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A   Short   History 
of 

American  Presbyterianism 


From  Its  Foundations  to 
the     Reunion     of    1869 


PHILADELPHIA 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath- 
School  Work 
1903 


Contents 


I.  The  Period  from  the  Founding  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  to 
the  Commencement  of  tlie  War  of  the  Revolution, 
by  the  Rev.  Alexander  T.  McGill,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 
Professor  of  Ecclesiastical,  Homiletic  and  Pastoral 
Theology,  Princeton  Theological  Seminar}^. 

Early  Adversities. — Discouragements. — Disaster. — Divine  Pur- 
pose.— Spontaneous  Creed. — Obscurity  of  Origin. — Francis 
Makemie. — First  Presbytery. — Identity  of  Presbyterianism. 
— Character  of  the  Founder. — Makemie  at  New  York. — 
Schemes  for  Establishing  Prelacy. — Makemie  and  Corn- 
bury. — Makemie  Preaches  in  New  York. — Arrested  and 
Imprisoned. — Trial. — Disgrace  of  Cornbury. — Vesey  and 
Trinity  Church. — First  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York. — 
Damage  from  Trinity  Church. — Extent  of  Intolerance. — 
Refuge  in  the  Border  Valley. — Character  of  its  Inhabitants. 
— Presbyterian  Power  of  Organization. —  More  Perfect  as  it 
Increases. — Underlying  Principles. — Primary  Court. — Suf- 
frage and  the  Commission. — Mutual  Concession. — History  of 
Courts  in  Gradation. — Two  Republican  Structures. — Church 
and  State  Contrasted. — Two  Currents  meet  at  Philadelphia. 
— Presbyterianism  Prevails. — Men  of  New  England  Content. 
— Soon  in  the  Lead. — Trial  in  "  The  Great  Awakening." — 
Excesses  of  Revivalists. — New  Brunswick  Insubordination. 
— Family  of  the  Tennents. — John  and  William  Tennent  at 
Freehold. — Whitefield  with  the  Tennents. — Protest  of  Robert 
Cross. — The  Schism  begins  in  Tumult. — Overture  of  Jonathan 
3 


4  coy  TEXTS 

Dickinson. — It  Fails. — The  Synod  of  New  York, — The  Pro- 
test not  her  Act  as  a  Synod. — Inconsistency  of  Gilbert  Ten- 
nent. — The  Confessions  and  the  College. — Main  Cause  of 
Reunion  the  Standards. — The  Reunion  Accomplished. — The 
Leading  Survivors. — Excellence  of  the  Plan. — Fitness  for 
another  Stage  of  Militancy. — Probity  with  the  Indians. — 
Conspicuously  Presbyterian  Policy. — Corporation  of  the 
Widows'  Fund. — Bestty  and  Duffield. — Benevolence  and 
Missions. — Patriotism  in  the  Field. — Its  early  Demonstra- 
tions.— Its  Enthusiasm  at  the  Frontier 7 

II.  The  Period  from  the  War  of  the  Revolution  to 
the  Adoption  of  the  ''Presbyterian  Form  of  Gov- 
ernment" (1786),  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Hop- 
kins, D.  D.,  Hyde  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical 
History  and  Church  Polity,  Auburn  Theological 
Seminary. 

I.  Religious  Condition  of  the  Colonies  in  1775. — The  Various 
Denominations  Existing. — Baptists  and  Methodists,  Roman 
Catholics  and  Quakers. — Episcopacy  as  Established  in  the 
Colonies. — Character  of  the  Missionaries  from  England. — 
Persecution  of  the  Presbyterians  in  Virginia. — Fidelity  of  the 
Colonial  Episcopal  Clergy  to  the  British  Government. — Dis- 
appearance of  Episcopacy  after  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence.—  Episcopacy  and  Monarchy. — Case  of  the  Rev.  Jacob 
Duche. — First  Prayer  in  Congress  after  the  Declaration. — 
Relapse  of  Mr.  Duche 65 

II.  Growth  of  Presbytorianism  in  America  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century. — Universal  Patriotism  of  the  Presbyterian  Clergy. — 
Presbyterianism  and  Civil  Liberty. — Loyalty  of  the  Colonial 
Presbyterians  to  the  British  Throne. — Pastoral  Letter  of  May, 
1775. — The  Rev.  Samuel  Davies  on  the  Death  of  George  II. — 
Distinction  between  the  Claims  of  the  King  and  the  Parlia- 
ment.— The  Presliyterian  Clergy  continue  to  Pray  for  the 
King. — The  Georgium  Sidus. — Dr.  John  Rodgers  and  the 
Patriot  Prayer  Meeting. — Presbyterian  Clergy  in  the  Field. — 
Dr.    lolin    Withcrspoon. — The    Ecclesiastical    Characteristics 


CONTENTS  5 

and  other  Writings, — Becomes  President  of  Princeton  College 
and  Member  of  Congress. — His  Zeal  for  Liberty. — The  War 
a  "  Presbyterian  Rebellion." — Not  a  Religious  War. — The 
Hessians. — Synodical  Action  on  the  War 83 

III.  Condition  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  the  Close  of  the 
War. — Increase  of  her  Ministry  and  Zeal  for  a  High  Educa- 
tion.— Her  Superiority  to  any  other  Church  at  that  Period. — 
The  Synod's  Declaration  in  Favor  of  Religious  Equality. — 
Struggle  in  Virginia  for  Exclusive  Privileges. — Patrick 
Henry's  Bill  for  a  General  Tax. — Origin  of  the  Hanover 
Presbytery. — Samuel  Morris. — Morris'  Reading-house. — 
"  Lutherans." — Act  of  Uniformity  and  Toleration  Act  in 
America. — The  Rev.  Mr.  Robinson  in  Hanover. — The  Rev. 
Samuel  Da  vies. — Resistance  of  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  to 
Mr.  Henry's  Bill. — Concluding  Struggle  and  Triumph  of  Re- 
ligious Liberty. — Sale  of  the  Virginia  Glebe  Lands  ....  109 

IV.  Meeting  of  the  First  Synod  after  the  Close  of  the  War. — 
Pastoral  Letter  of  Congratulation. — Dearth  of  the  Scriptures. 
— First  English  Edition  Published  in  America. — Plan  of  Dr. 
John  Rodgers  for  Supplying  the  Discharged  Soldiers. — Letter 
of  General  Washington  to  him  on  the  Subject. — Miscellaneous 
Action  of  the  Synod. — Initial  Steps  toward  the  New  Consti- 
tution.— Conclusion ••....  131 

III.  The  Period  from  the  Adoption  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Form  of  Ciovernment  to  the  Reunion  of  1869, 
by  the  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 
Professor  of  Biblical  and  Ecclesiastical  History, 
Western  Theological  Seminary. 

Independence  Achieved. — Presbyterian  Patriots. — Suffered  in 
the  War. — The  First  General  Assembly.— Its  Men. — A 
Common  Bond  of  the  Church. — Its  Action. — Shock  of  the 
French  Revolution. — Impiety  Abounding. — The  Clouds 
Scattered  by  Revivals. — 1781  to  1787. — Prayer  Meeting  in 
Hampden-Sidney  College. — Spread  of  the  Work. — Kentucky. 


COKTENTS 

— The  Year  1800. — Froth. — Schism  Leading  to  Formation 
of  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church. — North  CaroUna. — 
Virginia. — Western  Pennsylvania. — New  Jersey. — Cheering 
Reports  of  1803-1812. — Extension  of  the  Work  Northward 
and  Eastward. — From  the  First  a  Missionary  Church,— Ag- 
gressive Agencies. — The  Indians. — Presbyterianism  a  Pro- 
moter of  Learning. — Vital  Forces. — The  Plan  of  Union. — 
Antagonisms. — Division  of  1838. — The  Two  Bodies,— Civil 
War. — Drawing  Together, — The  Issues  Settled. — Reunion,    141 


American  Presbyterianism 


From  the   Founding  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  to  the  War  of  the  Revolution 


Presbyterians,  unlike  others  of  all  the  chief  de- 
nominations in  our  favored  nation,  came  to  the  her- 
itage which  they  have  by  this  time,  with  Httle  or  no 
incorporation  at  the  first.  Episcopalians,  Congre- 
gationalists,  Reformed  Dutch,  Swedes,  Baptists, 
Methodists,  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Germans, — all 
came  at  the  beginning  in  bands  of  some  previous 
organization  or  compact  in  the  Old  World  for  the 
purpose  of  settlement  here  in  the  way  of  coloniza- 
tion or  mission  at  least,  in  order  to  prepare  the  way 
for  transplanting  the  old  or  new  sodalities  of  other 
lands. ^     The   most   remarkable   fact  which   distin- 

1  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  by  Dr.  Charles  Hodge, 
Part  I,  p.  21. 

7 


8  EAllLV  ADVERTISERS 

guishes  our  beginning  is  tiiat  every  attempt  of  this 
kind  was  foiled  by  some  baleful  disaster.  The 
earliest  failure  on  record,  probably,  was  that  of  the 
Eagle's  Wing,  a  ship  freighted  for  America  in  1637 
with  ministers  and  people  from  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land, to  follow  the  example  of  the  Puritans  who 
had  so  recently  embarked  from  England  and  suc- 
cessfully reached  these  shores.  Everything  seemed 
to  be  well  appointed  for  conveying  to  a  friendly 
haven  here  a  compacted  Presbyterian  body,  in  full 
shape,  as  a  model  of  elderships  already  made,  and 
sure  to  begin  a  commonwealth  of  session,  presby- 
tery and  synod.  But  the  sea  wrought  and  was 
tempestuous,  and  storms  of  heaven  compelled  them 
to  return.'  John  Bramhall,  archbishop  of  Armagh, 
who  represented  prelacy  in  Ireland,  lashed  the  dis- 
appointed voyagers  with  ridicule  in  Latin  verse. 
But  Samuel  Rutherford,  of  Scotland,  with  prophetic 
sympathy,  saw  deeper  into  the  mystery  of  that 
result,  and  wrote,  in  one  of  those  letters  which  have 
a  saintly  fragrance  for  all  generations,  "  I  would  not 
have  you  think  it  strange  that  your  journey  to  New 
England  has  got  such  a  dash.  It  hath,  indeed,  made 
my  heart  heavy,  but  1  know  that  it  is  no  dumb 
Providence,  but  a  speaking  one.  whereby  the  Loid 
speaks  his  mind  to  you,  though  for  the  present  ye 
do  not  well  understand  what  he  saith." 

'  Reed's  History  of  the  IVesbyterimi  Churchy  Ireland. 


DItiCO  UK  A  GEJJKNTS  9 

The  God  of  our  fathers  continued,  however,  to 
speak  in  this  way.  A  plan  for  colonizing  America 
with  their  own  disciples  was  approved  by  some 
seventy  members  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  be- 
fore their  session  ended,  but  the  civil  v/ar  hindered 
its  execution.'  Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Dun- 
bar, Oliver  Cromwell  sent  shiploads  of  Scotchmen 
to  be  sold  in  these  plantations  for  the  expenses  of 
their  passage.  And  after  the  Restoration,  Charles 
11  sent  his  prisoners  from  the  risings  of  Pentland 
and  Bothwell  to  be  sold  in  like  manner  from  Bos- 
ton to  Charleston,  at  any  price  that  might  pay  for 
transporting  them  to  exile.  But  all  this,  of  course, 
was  cruel  dispersion,  and  not  the  pilgrimage  of 
churches.  Schemes  in  Scotland  to  fill  emigrant 
ships  with  Covenanters  taken  from  the  mountain 
gorges  and  the  filthy  prisons,  where  only  they 
could  escape  the  dragoons  of  Claverhouse,  though 
favored  by  wealthy  patrons  and  prompted  by  the 
persecuting  government  itself,  were  always  dashed 
by  some  adversity — perhaps  a  spiteful  arrest  of  the 
embarkation  at  the  very  point  of  departure,  crazy 
ships  which  could  not  make  the  passage,  desolating 
fevers  on  shipboard,  or  a  pestilential  home  awaitmg 
them  at  the  place  of  their  destination,  as  it  was  at 
Port  Royal  in  South  Carolina.  Something  always 
turned  up  to  baffle  and  disperse  a  transported  Pres- 

^  Webster's  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America. 


1 0  DISCO  URA  GEMENTS 

byterianism.  The  last  enterprise  of  this  kind  was 
the  saddest  of  all.  A  noble  confessor,  of  whom  the 
world  was  not  worthy,  son  of  a  wealthy  patriot 
who  had  done  much  service  to  the  State — George 
Scot  of  Pitlochie— for  the  crime  of  harboring  John 
Welsh  in  his  house  and  following  him  in  *'the 
preaching  of  the  fields,"  had  been  ruined  in  his  pat- 
rimony by  insatiate  fines  and  broken  in  health  by 
cruel  imprisonment,  and  at  length  permitted  to 
leave  his  country  with  his  life,  provided  he  would 
take  with  him,  at  his  own  expense,  a  cargo  of  sim- 
ilar offenders  to  a  settlement  somewhere  in  East 
Jersey.  With  wise  and  persevering  aim  he  deter- 
mined to  gather  a  Presbyterian  church  for  his  com- 
pany— Archibald  Riddel  for  the  minister,  John 
Fraser,  a  candidate  for  the  ministry,  elders  and  dea- 
cons and  people  of  the  best  condition.  Bibles  and 
psalm  books  and  Confessions  of  Faith.  More  than 
double  the  number  of  pilgrims  that  had  filled  the 
Mayflower  at  Plymouth,  as  near  the  beginning  of 
the  century  as  this  was  the  end,  crowded  the  ship 
of  Pitlochie,  and  superior,  perhaps,  to  any  shipload 
of  men  and  women  that  ever  weighed  anchor  in 
passing  over  to  America,  estimating  their  social  po- 
sition at  home  along  with  their  intelligence  and 
piety  and  devotion  to  the  liberty  of  Christ.  But  the 
depth  of  ocean  claimed  that  sainted  colony  for  its 
own.    The  master  of  the  ship  was  brutally  inhuman. 


DIVINE   nJRPOiiE  11 

Their  provisions  were  spoiled,  a  deadly  fever  seized 

the  passengers  and  dropped  them  in  the  sea,  the  great 
majority,  including  that  heroic  George  himself  and 
his  wife,  and  all  of  his  except  one  married  daughter.' 
These  memorials  of  peculiar  adversity  are  now, 
indeed,  as  Rutherford  would  say,  "a  speaking 
Providence  "  to  us,  and  we  may  understand  the 
meaning.  It  was  that  Presbyterianism,  "  whose 
seed  is  in  itself  after  his  kind,"  should  be  indigen- 
ous upon  American  soil,  and  show  here  as  nowhere 
else  its  innate  and  incomparable  force  of  organiza- 
tion; that  no  ready-made  consolidation  should  be 
imported  here,  with  transplanted  shape  or  exotic 
tradition,  to  find  its  genesis  in  accidents  of  European 
history  for  all  coming  time.  The  seeds  of  West- 
minster, wafted  hither,  as  their  field  is  the  world, 
must  come  like  the  thistledown,  detached  from  one 
another  and  floating  individually,  as  if  borne  to  be 
dispersed,  and  growing  ripe  only  to  be  scattered 
abroad  by  every  wind  that  blows.  Like  Abraham, 
the  man  of  this  faith  must  receive  in  solitary  exile 
the  promise  that  a  nation  shall  be  born  of  him  and 
all  this  wilderness  shall  be  the  possession  of  his 
principles.  It  was  appointed  of  God  that  the  polity 
of  Presbyterians,  like  each  man's  own  pocket  Bible, 
should  be  an  individual  conviction  before  it  becatne 
a  conventional  arrangement,  gathered  with  private 

1  Wodrow  and  Webster. 


12  SPONTANEOUS   CREED 

judgment  from  inspired  pages,  and  written  on  the 
table  of  the  heart  before  it  had  occasion  to  bind 
itself  about  the  neck  and  adorn  the  hands  of  a  great 
denomination. 

So  it  had  sprung  forth  at  the  first  Reformation; 
when  Protestantism,  to  the  four-fifths  of  its  whole 
extension,  emerged,  a  Presbyterian  organism  in  all 
the  leading  features  of  its  visibility.  So  it  had 
sprung  forth  at  the  second  Reformation,  in  Puritan 
mightiness,  with  the  overthrow  of  Tudor  and  Stuart 
prelacy  in  England,  when  the  fallow  grounds  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty  were  plowed  so  deeply 
at  the  springtide  of  the  English  commonwealth. 
Never  before  did  truth  so  spring  out  of  the  earth 
and  righteousness  look  down  from  heaven  at  the 
work  of  symbolism,  without  apology  to  be  made 
any  more,  in  a  creed,  and  without  a  bias  in  the 
body,  religious  or  political,  as  when  the  hundred 
and  twenty-one  divines,  along  with  thirty  statesmen 
illustrious  for  ability  and  learning,  were  summoned 
to  construct  our  standards  in  the  chapel  of  Henry 
the  Seventh.  And  now  the  virgin  soil  of  a  new 
world  was  to  have  a  like  spontaneous  growth  of 
the  same  model,  and  that  beyond  the  reach  of  any 
of  that  reactionary  influence  which  has  always  been 
lurking  in  the  dormitories  of  spiritual  despotism, 
through  the  Old  World. 

Hence  that  obscurity  which  hides   from  us  the 


OBSCURITY  OF  ORIGIN  13 

precise  date  and  particular  place  at  which  the  first 
Presbyterian  organization  was  made  in  our  country. 
It  is  always  hard  to  tell  the  tlrst  blade  of  corn  that 
appears  in  a  field  over  which  the  seed  has  been  scat- 
tered in  season  or  out  of  season.  Long  Island  has 
claimed  it  for  Jamaica.  But  more  than  twenty 
years  before,  McNish,  the  first  Presbyterian  minis- 
ter there,  moved  for  an  eldership  and  a  presbytery. 
Riddel,  the  minister  whom  Pitlochie  selected,  was 
laboring  in  1683  at  Woodbridge.  New  Jersey  has 
therefore  claimed  it;  but  the  ministry  of  Riddel  was 
transient  as  a  missionary  tour:  he  returned  in  a  little 
time  to  Scotland.  So  Maryland  has  claimed  it,  and 
historians  generally  concede  this  claim;  because,  in 
answer  to  an  application  from  Colonel  Stevens  in 
1680  to  the  Presbytery  of  Laggan,  Ireland,  Francis 
Makemie  came  to  Maryland  in  the  year  1682  and  be- 
gan to  organize  churches  at  once.  And  yet  in  1684 
he  wrote  to  Increase  Mather  from  Elizabeth  River,  in 
Virginia,  that  his  lot  had  been  providentially  cast 
among  "a  poor  and  desolate  people"  there,  who 
had  lost  their  "dissenting  minister"  by  death  in 
August  of  1683.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  soon 
after  he  came  to  this  country  he  was  laboring  on  the 
east  branch  of  Elizabeth  River,  Norfolk  County. 
Va.,  as  the  successor  of  a  dissenting,  and  probably 
Presbyterian,  minister,  whose  settlement  there  had 
been  indefinitelv  earlier. 


14  FRANCIS  MAKEMIE 

But  beyond  all  question,  Francis  Makemie,  the 
Irishman,  born  in  Donegal  and  educated  among  the 
Scottish  universities,  began  the  organizing  of  our 
Church  throughout  this  land,  with  abounding  mis- 
sionary toil  to  gather  it  and  amazing  skill  of  admin- 
istration to  settle  it.  Oi  course  he  brought  his 
convictions  of  truth  and  order  with  him  to  work 
with  and  not  to  speculate  about  as  an  alterable 
Presbyterianism,  which  might  be  made  something 
other  than  it  had  been  in  order  to  suit  American 
people.  His  errand  was  to  plant  what  he  already 
knew  and  believed  in.  And  whilst  he  wrote  for 
help  in  all  directions,  to  Boston  and  to  London, 
where  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  unions  ex- 
isted, it  was  to  Ireland  he  would  go  back,  through 
all  perils  of  the  sea,  to  bring  over  men  like  himself 
in  culture  and  conviction,  to  carry  on  his  work  and 
extend  it,  as  he  did  in  1705,  when  he  brought  with 
him  John  Hampton  and  George  McNish. 

The  first  presbytery  met  in  1706  at  Freehold, 
^  N.  J.,  soon  after  his  return  with  such  recruits,  and 
he  was  the  moderator.  It  consisted  of  eight  min- 
isters, including  the  one  ordained  at  that  meeting, 
with  as  many  ruling  elders  as  might  be  present,  and 
who  were  present  on  the  rolls  of  that  initial  period 
(which  are  extant)  in  as  large  proportion  as  they 
have  ever  attended  since.  The  members  were  all 
Scotch-Irish,  excepting  one,  the  pastor  of  Philadel- 


FIRST  PRESBYTERY  15 

phia,  Jedediah  Andrews,  who  was  from  Massa- 
chusetts; Francis  Makemie,  John  Hampton,  George 
McNish,  Samuel  Davis,  John  Wilson,  Nathaniel 
Taylor  and  John  Boyd  were  the  other  ministers; 
and  the  record  shows  that  everything  proceeded 
with  the  same  order  and  the  same  transaction  and 
the  same  parlance  of  the  minute  as  if  the  Presbytery 
of  Laggan  itself  had  been  transported  bodily  to 
Freehold,  as  they  had  resolved  that  it  should  be  if 
Usher  had  not  mitigated  at  that  very  time  the  yoke 
of  prelacy  under  which  they  were  groaning  in  Ire- 
land.^ To  say,  therefore,  that  American  Presby- 
terianism  is  "its  own  type,"  different  from  the 
system  everywhere  else,  must  be  either  untrue  in 
the  light  of  our  authentic  annals  or  a  mere  truism  in 
historical  averment,  as  much  as  to  say  that  French 
and  Genevan  and  Holland  and  English  and  Scotch 
and  Irish  Presbyterianism  fs  each  its  own  type. 
There  is  but  one  type  of  what  is  divinely  true,  since 
the  Archetype  ascended  to  *'give"  a  pattern  from 
''the  mount."  And  if  there  be  anything  peculiar 
in  calling  this  American,  it  must  be  the  perfect  free- 
dom with  which  it  works  off  here  everything  that 
shaped  or  constrained  it  elsewhere  by  *'the  com- 
mandments of  men." 
Francis    Makemie    himself    was    a  type   of  the 

'  See   Records,  edited  by  Dr.  \Vm.  M.  Engles,  Board  of  Publica- 
tion. 


16  CBABACTER   OF  MAKEMIE 

American  minister,  more  complete,  probably,  than 
any  other  man  ever  born  and  educated  on  our  own 
soil  through  all  our  generations.  Intensely  individ- 
ual and  yet  many-sided,  firm  yet  versatile,  thought- 
ful and  practical,  devoted  to  one  thing  and  occupied 
with  many  things,  he  was  indeed  the  father  of  that 
"peculiar"  body,  the  presbyterate  of  this  denomi- 
nation, and  the  only  "  priesthood  "  we  have  except 
our  people.  Beginning  with  a  good  education, 
soundness  in  the  faith  and  soberness  of  mind,  to 
try  the  religion  of  his  fathers  in  the  experiment  of 
life,  making  all  circumstances  yield  to  its  impoi- 
tance,  taming  the  wilderness  with  its  culture,  and 
founding  customs,  laws  and  constitutions  of  social 
and  civil  advancement  according  to  its  paramount 
and  original  norm,  he  came  as  a  missionary  and 
lived  like  an  apostle;  aggressive,  obeying  God 
rather  than  man;  loyal-to  Caesar,  but  never  abashed 
before  his  tribunals;  working  with  his  own  hands, 
though  at  the  business  of  a  merchant,  and  giving  to 
the  Church  of  his  own  substance  more  than  he  re- 
ceived from  her  all  the  days  of  his  life. 

Having  preached  some  time  at  Barbadoes  on 
his  way  to  this  country,  it  was  at  "the  Barbadoes 
store  "  in  this  city  that  he  preached  the  first  Presby- 
terian sermon  at  Philadelphia  in  the  year  1692,  some 
six  years  before  the  settlement  of  the  first  pastor, 
Mr.  Andrews. 


CHARACTER   OF  JIAKEMIE  17 

The  care  uf  all  the  churches  was  upon  him;  and 
no  itinerant  ever  journeyed  so  much  on  the  coast  of 
our  country  in  seeking  "a  certain  people  scattered 
abroad  and  dispersed  among  the  people,"  and  yet 
no  man  was  ever  so  much  intent  on  establishing 
permanent  and  pastoral  relations  and  precise  pres- 
byterial  connections.  He  wrote  well,  with  a  vigor- 
ous pen,  and  began  well  in  using  the  press  for  in- 
struction to  the  young  and  the  ignorant.  His  tirst 
production  was  a  catechism,  and  his  second  a  de- 
fense of  that  catechism  against  George  Keith,  a  man 
of  vast  notoriety  as  an  apostate  Quaker  and  rene- 
gade Episcopalian.  This  made  Makemie  famous  at 
Boston  as  an  author,  and  won  for  him  the  admi- 
ration of  Increase  and  Cotton  Mather.  He  was  a 
Christian  gentleman,  withal,  of  the  most  cultivated 
manners,  and  an  orator  of  graceful  power  and  fasci- 
nating address.  He  always  captivated  the  rulers  of 
Maryland  and  Virginia  in  his  applications  to  them 
for  the  liberty  of  preaching,  and  he  never  failed  to 
win  his  way  with  these  accomplishments  until  he 
came  to  New  York  and  dined  with  Edward  Hyde, 
the  Viscount  Cornbury,  a  full  cousin  of  Queen  Anne, 
and  grandson  of  Clarendon,  the  historian  of  calumny. 

Cornbury  had  come  as  governor  of  the  colony  in 
1702.  Nine  years  before  this  unfortunate  event  a 
statute  had  passed  through  the  assembly  and  coun- 
cil  by  "an  artifice,"  according  to  the  boast  of  its 


18  LORD   CORSBUEY 

author  subsequently  made,  the  whole  assembly  be- 
ing dissenters  except  the  speaker  himself.  By  this 
act  the  territory  was  to  be  divided  into  parishes  for 
"one  good  and  sufficient  minister"  in  each,  to  be 
supported  by  taxes  levied  on  all  the  people.  Most 
of  the  people  being  Dutch,  and  honestly  believing 
that  one  "good  and  sufficient  minister"  might  be 
Reformed  or  independent  just  as  well  as  Episcopa- 
lian, and  the  people  in  every  parish  being  authorized 
to  assess  their  own  taxes  and  choose  their  own 
pastors,  no  ruler,  governor  or  judge  dared  to  unveil 
the  trick,  and  it  remained  a  dead  letter  until  Corn- 
bury  came  with  "instructions,"  as  he  alleged,  from 
the  court  or  council  of  the  queen.  These  instruc- 
tions were,  in  substance,  that  the  "Act  of  Tolera- 
tion," William  and  Mary,  1689,  should  not  be  ex- 
tended to  the  province  of  New  York  without  the 
express  permission  of  the  governor.  High-church 
partisans,  we  know,  carried  everything  in  the  court 
of  Queen  Anne.  "The  Venerable  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  "  was 
instituted  in  1701  under  such  auspices,  with  ample 
funds  and  powerful  patrons,  political  as  well  as 
religious.  George  Keith,  Colonel  Morris  and  Lord 
Cornbury  were  now  factors  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic  to  nullify  the  Act  of  Toleration,  establish  the 
hierarchy  of  England  in  America,  and  restore  the 
intolerance   which    had   been    overthrown   by   the 


SCHEMES  FOR  ESTABLISHING    PRELACY         19 

revolution  at  home.  Simultaneous  with  Cornbury's 
arrival  was  the  effort  of  Morris  to  persuade  the 
colonial  assembly  of  New  Jersey  to  give  up  their 
government  to  the  Crown  and  enact  the  same 
"artifice"  for  the  Church  as  in  New  York — a  meas- 
ure defeated  by  only  two  votes,  one  of  a  Quaker 
and  the  other  of  a  Baptist,  and  yet  virtually  accom- 
plished for  thirty-six  years  by  the  proprietaries 
themselves  when  they  surrendered  to  the  Crown 
their  possessions  in  New  Jersey  as  a  burden  more 
than  a  profit.  Even  William  Penn  was  startled  at 
this  turn  of  spiritual  despotism  when  he  found  Lord 
Cornbury  looking  after  Philadelphia,  and  the  vestry- 
men of  the  city  actually  intriguing  for  an  extension 
of  the  viscount's  authority  over  them.  A  storm 
from  the  pen  of  that  mild  philanthropist  effectually 
stopped  the  business  in  Pennsylvania,  when  he 
wrote  to  the  lords  of  trade  and  plantations  demand- 
ing that  they  should  either  buy  him  out  or  let  him 
buy  out  ''the  hot  Church  party,"  as  he  called  it. 

At  this  time  it  was  that  Makemie  and  Hampton 
came  along  on  their  way  to  Boston  in  quest  of 
more  ministers.  Their  fame  had  preceded  them  at 
New  York.  The  governor  himself  sought  their 
acquaintance.  But  with  all  his  politeness  and  pre- 
tension, they  would  not  ask  him  for  leave  to 
preach,  and  he  was  enraged.  The  Dutch  and 
French   churches   both   refused   the   pulpit  to  Ma- 


20  3IAKEMIE  PREACHES  IN  NEW  YORK 

kemie  through  fear  of  the  tyrant,  who  had  openly 
declared  that  the  *'one  good  and  sutTicient  min- 
ister," in  the  act  of  1693,  must  be  construed  as  one 
episcopally  ordained  according  to  the  Church  of 
England,  so  that  no  other  English  preaching  at  least 
should  be  had  in  New  York  without  his  consent; 
and  even  Dutch  and  French  preaching  was  made  to 
feel  that  it  was  free  by  sufferance  and  shielded  by 
its  foreign  tongues,  rather  than  by  prescription  or 
treaty  or  law.  But  still  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyte- 
rian would  preach  in  New  York,  and  that  without 
the  governor's  leave;  and  accordingly,  in  a  private 
house  on  Pearl  Street,  that  of  William  Jackson,  a 
shoemaker,  the  first  Presbyterian  sermon  was 
preached  to  as  many  as  would  hear  him,  with  doors 
and  windows  open,  on  the  text  Psalm  50:  2}:  "To 
him  that  ordereth  his  conversation  aright  will  I 
show  the  salvation  of  God."  An  infant  child  also 
was  baptized  in  that  service.  The  same  day  Hamp- 
ton preached  at  Newtown,  Long  Island. 

Early  in  the  week  they  were  both  arrested  and 
brought  before  the  angry  and  bigoted  official. 
With  the  utmost  dignity  and  manliness  Makemie 
demanded  to  know  by  what  law  the  arrest  was 
made.  Cornbury  said  his  "instructions  "  were  the 
law,  and  they  would  not  suffer  him  to  allow 
"strolling  preachers  to  spread  their  pernicious  doc- 
trines."    Makemie   replied   that  his  Confession  of 


ARRESTED  AND  IM PRISONED  21 

Faith  was  known  to  the  world,  that  his  doctrines 
were  sound,  the  same  as  the  articles  of  the  Church 
that  denied  him  the  right  to  preach  them,  and  chal- 
lenged examination,  saying  that  they  had  been 
already  approved  by  the  authorities  of  Virginia  and 
Maryland,  and  at  Barbadoes  also,  where  he  had 
been  qualified  according  to  the  act  of  toleration. 
At  this  the  persecutor  exclaimed  that  no  law  of  the 
kind  belonged  to  the  colonies,  and  no  permission, 
at  any  rate  from  another  province,  would  avail 
under  his  government,  and  he  would  know  nothing 
but  his  own  instructions  from  Her  Majesty's  coun- 
cil. Makemie  denied  that  his  instructions  were 
law,  and  again  demanded  a  sight  of  the  statute 
under  which  he  was  arrested.  "You,  sir,  know 
law!"  said  Cornbury,  with  a  sneer,  and  ordered 
him  to  prison. 

Everything  technical  in  the  form  of  commitment 
was  violated.  Repeated  experiments  to  correct  the 
blundering  were  made,  and  each  blunder  of  the 
writ  had  to  be  paid  for  by  the  prisoners,  whilst 
Ihey  were  kept  all  the  while  in  jail.  It  seemed  im- 
possible to  obtain  either  liberty  or  trial.  After  two 
months'  imprisonment  he  was  released  on  bail,  and 
immediately  went  back  to  attend  a  meeting  of  pres- 
bytery in  Philadelphia,  thence  resuming  his  mis- 
sionary work,  without  forgetting  his  recognizance 
at  New  York. 


22  TRIAL— DISU  RACE   OF  LORN  BURY 

A!  length  a  true  bill  was  found  against  Makemie, 
Hampton  being  released.  When  the  trial  came  on, 
the  accused  was  defended  by  counsel  and  by  him- 
self. Tradition  lauds  the  eloquence  and  power  of 
his  argument.  The  prosecution  was  overwhelmed 
with  defeat  and  shame  before  judge  and  jury,  and 
he  was  unanimously  acquitted.  Yet  the  cost  to 
him  of  that  persecuting  false  imprisonment  and  the 
trial  was  enormous,  designed  to  make  him  still  a 
prisoner  for  the  debt.  And  he  narrowly  escaped  a 
second  arrest  and  the  jail  because  he  refused  to 
promise  that  he  would  not  preach  again  in  New 
York,  and  actually  did  preach  in  the  French  church. 

Within  a  year  after  this  outrage  on  the  Presbyte- 
rians, Lord  Cornbury  was  superseded  in  office — not 
for  his  bigoted  intolerance,  however,  but  for  his 
profligacy  and  corruption,  a  dishonored  bankrupt 
and  a  disgrace  alike  to  Church  and  State.  Yet  even 
in  his  downfall  he  raved  against  Makemie,  and  at- 
tempted to  justify  the  atrocious  wrong  of  that  per- 
secution before  the  lords  of  trade  and  plantations 
with  the  following  description  of  our  venerated 
founder,  which,  in  softer  phrase,  might  be  consid- 
ered apostolic  fitness  for  his  work  in  America: 
"  He  is  jack-of-all-trades:  he  is  a  preacher,  a  doctor 
of  physic,  a  merchant,  an  attorney,  a  counselor-at- 
law,  and,  which  is  worst  of  all,  a  disturber  of  gov- 
ernments."    The  same  year,  1708,  Makemie  died. 


VESEY  AND    TRINITY  CHURCH  23 

The  agitation  of  this  affair  and  other  iniquitous 
proceedings,  hke  the  wrong  done  to  Jamaica  in  rob- 
bing her  by  fraud  and  violence  of  both  church  and 
glebe — the  most  valuable  church  property  on  Long 
Island— and  compelling  her  people  to  wait  through 
almost  thirty  years  of  expensive  litigation  to  recover 
it  from  the  Episcopalians,  at  length  disgusted  gov- 
ernors and  judges  even  belonging  to  that  sect/  A 
feud  also  had  been  occasioned  between  clergy  and 
laity  by  the  greed  and  ambition  of  Vesey,  the  first 
rector  of  Trinity  Church.  He  had  been  born  and 
bred  a  Puritan,  and  had  been  sent  by  Increase 
Mather  to  look  after  the  Congregationalists  about 
New  York.  But  Governor  Fletcher,  another  of  the 
most  corrupt  men  of  his  age,  oflfered  him  the  rec- 
torship and  sent  him  to  England  for  "orders,"  al- 
though he  was  ultimately  installed  by  two  ministers 
of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church.  He  was  entirely 
bought  over,  and  at  once  became  even  more  than 
"conformed."  His  eye  was  taken  with  a  small 
farm  called  the  "Kings  Bowerie,"  and  he  deter- 
mined to  grasp  the  fee  simple  for  Trinity.  The 
Episcopalian  people  desired  only  a  lease,  being  op- 
posed to  mortmain  not  only,  but  to  the  schemes  of 
Vesey  in  general,  having  little  confidence  in  his  in- 
tegrity or  sanctity.  But  he  triumphed  over  the  best 
and  ablest  laymen  of  his  church,  and  secured  in 

1  Dr.  Macdonald's  History  Jamaica  Church. 


24  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAX  CHURCH,  N.   Y. 

leinporalty  for  the  support  and  propagation  of 
prelacy  the  largest  inheritance  of  any  particular 
church  in  America. 

In  the  confusion  of  this  quarrel  the  handful  of 
pious  men  who  had  continued  their  distinct  meet- 
ings for  prayer  on  the  Lord's  Day,  after  the  visit  of 
Makemie,  were  encouraged  to  attempt  the  forma- 
tion of  a  Presbyterian  church  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  Some  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  be- 
longed to  this  band,  and  were  soon  associated  with 
numbers  increasing  from  year  to  year.  They  de- 
termined to  have  a  pastor  in  1716,  and  called  James 
Anderson  from  Delaware,  a  Scotchman  ordained 
nine  years  before  by  the  presbytery  of  Irvine  for 
American  missions — '*a  graceful  orator,  a  popular 
preacher  and  a  worthy  man."  In  three  years  a 
church  was  built,  and  even  the  legislature  of  Con- 
necticut ordered  a  collection  throughout  that  colony 
to  aid  the  enterprise.  In  1720  the  congregation 
petitioned  the  governor  and  council  for  a  charter  of 
incorporation.  But  the  opposition  of  Trinity 
Church,  actually  appearing  by  counsel,  defeated 
them,  and  the  title  to  their  property  had  to  be 
vested  in  Anderson  himself  and  three  members  of 
the  church  and  by  them  transferred  to  ministers  of 
Edinburgh  in  1730.  For  more  than  half  a  century 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  New  York  city 
could  not  obtain  the  right  of  a  citizen  to  sue  and  be 


DAMAGE   FROM    TUIMTy  25 

sued  in  the  courts  of  the  country,  owing  to  the 
hostile  power  and  overshadowing  wealth  of  Trinity 
Church.  And  this  injustice  greatly  damaged  there 
the  feeble  inception  of  our  cause.  It  compelled  the 
pastor  to  meddle  too  much  with  the  temporal  con- 
cerns of  the  church  and  brought  dissension  into  the 
bosom  of  his  flock.  A  division  ensued  and  a  sec- 
ond congregation  was  made,  and  Jonathan  Edwards, 
at  the  age  of  nineteen,  was  called  to  the  new  or- 
ganization. But  Anderson  resigned  his  charge,  and 
Edwards  left  with  much  regret  for  want  of  compe- 
tent support.  Both  congregations  were  soon  happily 
reunited  in  the  ministry  of  Ebenezer  Pemberton,  son 
of  a  Boston  pastor,  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  who 
prospered  for  thirty  years  in  that  conspicuous  charge, 
and  left  it  a  flock  of  nearly  fourteen  hundred  souls. 
Thus  the  peculiar  and  extreme  dispersion  to 
which  Presbyterians  were  doomed  at  the  early 
colonization  of  this  country  was  followed  with 
legal  and  illegal  intolerance  precisely  at  the  period 
of  the  first  formation.  No  wonder  it  was  so  in  the 
cradle  of  that  day,  when  the  old  convening  propen- 
sity toward  presbyteries  and  synods,  which  had 
troubled  the  prelacy  of  England  so  much  for  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half,  began  to  show  itself  on  this  con- 
tinent, like  a  handwriting  on  the  wall,  to  signify 
that  spiritual  despotism  was  finished,  that  the  union 
of  Church  and  State  would  be  impossible,  that  be- 


26  EXTENT  OF  INTOLERANCE 

tween  the  bondage  of  hierarchical  tyranny  on  one 
side  and  the  anarchy  of  advisory  councils  on  the 
other  a  strong  republic  not  of  this  world  would 
arise,  well  compacted,  like  a  stone  cut  out  without 
hands,  to  become  a  great  mountain,  filling  the  land 
and  remaining  "an  eternal  excellency,  the  joy  of 
many  generations/' 

It  was  in  "the  Augustan  age  of  England"  that 
our  infant  Church  was  hindered  and  oppressed 
from  New  York  to  Charleston,  with  disabilities 
thrown  upon  her  even  in  Maryland,  where  Epis- 
copalians revoked  what  Roman  Catholics  had  given 
of  religious  liberty. 

East  of  New  York,  and  over  almost  the  whole 
extent  of  Puritan  independency,  there  was  a  civil 
establishment  which  made  parishes  identical  with 
townships,  and  taxed  the  inhabitants  by  statute  for 
the  support  of  the  Church  as  well  as  the  road, 
the  prison  and  the  poorhouse.  When  Presbyterian 
emigrants  came,  therefore,  to  attempt  the  distinct 
organization  of  their  churches  in  New  England,  it 
was  found  that  a  constraint  and  burden  beset  them 
but  little  different  from  the  oppression  of  the  old 
countries,  where  dissent  was  liable  to  the  tithing  of 
installed  religion  as  well  as  the  voluntary  offering 
of  stipend  for  its  own  ministry  and  ordinances. 
They  were  not  only  too  poor  but  too  conscientious 
to  support  with  their  substance  a  discipline  of  the 


EXTENT  OF  INTOLERANCE  27 

Church  that  was  radically  different  from  their  own 
representative  system.  And  there  was  jealousy, 
harsh  and  bitter  at  times,  on  the  part  of  ministers 
and  people  among  those  theocratic  townships. 
When  a  few  Presbyterians  attempted  to  settle  at 
Worcester,  Massachusetts,  in  1718,  with  their  pastor 
Fitzgerald,  they  were  violently  hindered  by  a  mob 
from  building  a  house  of  worship,  and  that  mob, 
it  is  said,  was  headed  by  some  '*  considerable  per- 
sons "  of  the  town;  and  this  intolerance  continued 
for  twenty  years  in  the  way  of  taxing  Presbyte- 
rians for  the  support  of  the  first  Congregational 
Church  of  that  town,  until  most  of  them  removed  to 
the  western  frontier  of  New  York. 

A  whole  presbytery,  called  by  tradition  the  Irish 
Presbytery,  antl  calling  themselves  the  Presbytery 
of  Boston,  consisting  of  ten  ministers  at  least  be- 
sides Lemerc-ier  of  the  French  church  in  that  city, 
became  so  quietly  and  completely  pressed  down 
and  out  by  the  policy  of  New  England  in  the  first 
part  of  the  last  century  that  history  can  hardly  find 
the  date  either  of  its  origin  or  its  extinction.^  Ex- 
ceptional places  like  Londonderry  and  Rutland, 
where  some  division  of  the  township  by  courts  of 
law  or  acts  of  the  colonial  assembly  afforded  relief, 
were  very  few  during  the  whole  period  of  Presby- 
terian settlement. 

1  Colman's  MSS.,  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  collection. 


28  REFUGE  IN   THE  BORDER    VALLEY 

Indeed,  there  was  but  one  strip  of  country  in  all 
our  broad  land  where  presbytery  could  stretch  itself 
without  molestation  from  the  jealousy  of  spiritual 
powers,  and  that  was  the  border  of  a  savage  wilder- 
ness, it  happened,  in  the  goodness  of  God,  that 
most  of  this  border  was  the  Jezreel  of  America,  rich 
and  beautiful  through  its  whole  extent  of  Cumber- 
land Valley  in  Pennsylvania  and  Shenandoah  in 
Virginia,  and  yet  the  bloodiest  battle-ground  we 
have  ever  had  since  the  beginning  of  our  American 
civilization.  There  the  Scotch-Irish  Presyterians 
were  suffered  to  pour  the  streams  of  immigration 
and  set  up  their  tabernacle  without  a  challenge,  be- 
cause there  they  had  to  stand  guardsmen  for  the 
nation  through  nearly  the  whole  of  a  century.  The 
cabins  there  might  worship  as  they  pleased.  A 
cordon  of  blood  and  fire  might  build  its  own  altars 
and  have  the  war-whoop  of  the  Indians  for  a  diapa- 
son through  its  own  cathedrals.  The  apathetic 
peace  of  Quaker  authorities  in  Pennsylvania  and  the 
chevalier  pride  of  Episcopal  authorities  in  Virginia 
united  in  giving  countenance  to  Presbyterians  all  along 
the  North  Mountain,  while  the  trail  of  the  savage  and 
smoke  of  his  wigwam,  the  deadly  rifle  and  ruthless 
tomahawk,  made  it  undesirable  to  have  the  "one 
good  and  sufficient  minister "  in  every  parish  ordained 
episcopally  and  supported  by  '*a  tax  on  all  the  in- 
habitants" of  poor  and  perilous  frontier  stockades. 


CHARACTER   OF  ITS   INHABITANTS  29 

But  there  presbytery  flourished.  There  a  pure 
gospel  was  preached  by  such  men  as  Craighead  and 
Thompson  and  Steel  and  Elder  with  a  pocket  Bible 
in  one  hand  and  a  loaded  rifle  in  the  other.  There 
and  then,  as  always  in  critical  or  eventful  times, 
heroes  grew  on  the  bench  of  ruling  elders.  There 
Chambers,  at  the  peril  of  his  life  and  fortune,  gath- 
ered a  whole  community  into  his  own  fort,  and 
when  other  populations  fled  the  valley,  stood  with 
indomitable  courage  at  the  outposts  of  civilization 
in  his  town,  and  almost  alone  rolled  back  the  rush 
of  savage  inhumanity.'  And  there  it  was  that  Arm- 
strong, a  ruling  elder  in  Carlisle,  drew  to  him  Hugh 
Mercer,  a  young  physician  from  Scotland,  and  pro- 
jected that  intrepid  action  at  Kittanning  which  de- 
livered the  valley  from  savage  incursion,  and  stands 
in  history,  as  it  did  in  the  opinion  of  Washington, 
the  most  valorous  and  timely  discomfiture  of  the  foe 
ever  achieved  in  warfare  with  the  Indians.  Arm- 
strong lived  to  become  the  intimate  friend  of  Wash- 
ington, by  whose  influence  he  was  made  a  general 
of  the  Revolution  and  a  member  of  the  old  Con- 
gress. And  his  son  it  was  who  carried  Mercer  in 
his  arms  from  the  battle-ground  of  Princeton,  be- 
came a  senator  in  Congress,  ambassador  to  France 
and  secretary  of  war  in  the  administration  of  Mad- 
ison. 

'  Irish  and  Scotch  Early  Settlers,  etc.,  by  George  Chambers. 


30      PRESBYTERIAN  POWER   OF  ORGANIZATION 

It  will  now  be  admitted  that,  in  view  of  all  the 
disadvantages  of  our  beginning  and  opposition  to 
ouf  first  progress,  there  must  be  rare  dynamic  virtue 
in  the  creed  which  could  gather  people  so  dispersed, 
and  organize  quickly  and  well  a  body  like  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  that  has  always  grown  consoli- 
dated in  proportion  as  it  has  grown  vast.  In  1707 
it  had  eight  ministers  and  twelve  churches.  In  17 17 
it  had  more  than  doubled  this  number  both  of  min- 
isters and  churches;  and  the  perfect  harmony  with 
which  it  went  into  a  synod  that  year  and  agreed 
upon  the  subordination  of  three  presbyteries  into 
which  it  was  resolved,  and  drew  to  this  plural  a 
fourth  in  Long  Island  which  had  been  Independent 
more  than  Presbyterian  ten  years  before,  shows  a 
primal  force  in  some  great  principles  underlying  our 
whole  conception  of  the  Church.  No  one  can 
doubt,  with  our  primitive  records  before  him,  that 
the  first  ecclesiastical  movement  which  we  relate 
this  day  was  due  to  intelligent  ideas  that  had  been 
maturing  for  centuries,  and  began  to  work  on  this 
hemisphere  anew,  and  yet  normal  as  if  they  had 
begun  again  at  the  suburbs  of  Geneva  or  colleges  of 
Edinburgh;  and  just  as  little  can  we  doubt  that  the 
assimilation  of  new  material  from  Holland,  France, 
Germany,  Wales  and  Sweden,  as  well  as  New  Eng- 
land, was  more  and  more  complete  as  our  system 
extended  its  fold.     It  was  better  Presbyterianism  in 


310BE  PERFECT  AS  IT  INCREASES  31 

1717  than  in  1707;  better  still  in  1729,  when  "The 
Adopting  Act"  was  voted  and  the  numbers  had 
grown  to  nearly  double  of  what  they  were  at  the 
formation  of  the  synod;  better  in  1741,  when  the 
rupture  of  ministerial  communion  made  each  wing 
of  the  separation  vie  with  the  other  in  devotion  to 
the  adopted  standards  of  the  whole;  and  better  yet 
when  the  schism  was  healed  in  1738  with  a  reunion 
which  made  it  impossible  that  the  Church  could 
ever  split  again  for  the  same  causes  of  division. 

This  great  Catholic  tendency,  which  is  the  main 
characteristic  of  the  Presbyterian  system  when  it  is 
fairly  understood,  arises  from  a  few  elementary 
principles  that  were  all  at  work  in  the  first  planting, 
and  for  almost  half  a  century  before  an  express  for- 
mulation by  the  act  of  1729,  which  approved  of 
Presbyterian  Church  government  as  well  as  adopted 
the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  catechism.  Indeed, 
these  principles  originated  the  Reformation  in  Scot- 
land itself,  and  were  covenanted  in  the  body  of  her 
discipline  again  and  again  before  the  Westminster 
Assembly  could  gather  and  build  with  them  a  di- 
rectory in  their  Confession  of  Faith.  These  are 
chiefly  the  following: — 

I.  The  Church,  in  its  visible  form,  is  a  company 
of  parents  and  children  which  answers  to  the  divine 
purpose  in  Christ  before  the  world  began,  to  pre- 
pare a  "fullness"  for  him  through  all  remaining 


32  UNDERLYING   PRINCIPLES 

time  that  will  represent  him  on  earth  while  he  rep- 
resents it  in  heaven. 

2.  This  representative  body  is  made  such  by  the 
constant  communication  of  gifts  and  graces  from 
himself  through  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

3.  These  gifts  and  graces  are  diversified  to  an 
indefinite  extent,  no  two  members  on  earth  being 
perfectly  alike  in  this  endowment. 

4.  Consequently,  the  larger  this  body  is  made, 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  inhabits,  the  more  complete 
the  diversity  reflected,  and  therefore  the  more 
fully  is  this  image  of  Christ  delineated  among 
men. 

5.  Officers  commensurate  with  the  need  of  this 
body  through  every  age  aie  all  given  of  God  with  war- 
rant in  his  word,  the  ascension  gifts  of  a  glorious 
Master,  and  all  of  them  representatives  emphatically 
and  in  a  triple  sense,  representing  him  to  the 
Church  and  the  Church  to  him,  and  both  him  and 
the  Church  to  the  whole  world. 

6.  These  officers,  besides  the  function  of  each 
individual  according  to  his  order,  hold  jurisdiction 
by  assemblies,  only  in  the  name  of  Christ,  for  the 
exercise  of  any  power  bestowed  upon  the  Church. 

7.  Assemblies,  through  all  their  varieties  and 
gradations,  are  to  be  compacted  together,  always 
converging  in  some  higher  unity  which  is  one  of 
ultimate  appeal  and  general  authority. 


THE  PRIMARY  COURT  33 

8.  This  ultimate  and  highest  tribunal,  by  what- 
ever name  it  may  be  called,  is  the  primary  court, 
being  next  and  nearest  the  Head  in  the  scope  of  its 
aims  and  representation  of  all  the  churches,  so  that 
if  there  be  power  in  the  Church  anywhere  lodged 
which  has  not  been  specifically  distributed  by  a 
formal  constitution,  this  high  court  is  the  depository 
of  such  power,  to  meet  the  exigences  that  cannot 
be  foreseen  or  provided  for  by  any  written  constitu- 
tion. 

9.  Election  of  officers  must  be  in  the  people  of 
each  particular  church,  who  are  free  to  choose 
among  the  candidates  approved  of  God  and  imbued 
with  his  Spirit,  suffrage  always  abiding  where  the 
Holy  Ghost  abides,  the  great  commission  of  the 
ministry  really  resting  on  the  bosom  of  the  whole 
Church,  and  no  one  succession  of  individual  men, 
who  are  all  given  to  the  Church  only  to  serve  her, 
the  transmission  of  office  by  those  already  invested 
being  always  a  relative  and  not  absolute  necessity, 
qualified  by  the  greater  necessity  of  ability  and 
faithfulness. 

These  are  the  principles  which  had  shaped  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  every  land  and  among  Eng- 
lish-speaking people  just  as  long  before  '  *  The  Adopt- 
ing Act "  of  America  as  our  Centennial  of  civil  inde- 
pendence has  been  coming  since  that  adoption.  In 
Scotland  a  General  Assembly  existed  before  either 


34  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY 

synods  or  presbyteries  were  formed,  as  a  council 
of  apostles,  elders  and  brethren  was  held  in  Jerusa- 
lem before  any  intermediate  judicature  had  been 
formed,  for  the  reference  of  causes  from  particular 
churches.  Our  presbytery  at  Freehold  or  Philadel- 
phia at  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth  century  was 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  America.  It  was  a  "representation  of  all  the 
particular  churches  in  this  denomination;"  it  was 
"the  bond  of  union,  peace  and  mutual  confidence" 
at  home  and  the  organ  of  "  correspondence"  with 
churches  abroad.  It  "issued  all  references  and 
appeals  "  and  exercised  all  the  authority  of  review 
over  courts  of  record  below  it;  and  beyond  this,  it 
often  did  the  session's  work  in  particular  churches, 
and  exercised  the  right  of  "eminent  domain  "  in 
bringing  its  authority  to  bear  on  evils  and  disorders 
which  it  was  wise  to  redress  before  any  record 
could  be  made  below  or  any  complaint  and  appeal 
could  have  time  to  go  up  above.  In  ten  years  more 
that  General  Assembly  was  called  a  synod,  and  this 
body  exercised  in  turn  all  the  prerogatives  now  in- 
vested in  our  supreme  judicatory  by  the  constitution ; 
and  more  than  this,  it  often  did  the  work  of  presby- 
teries, erecting  or  dividing  particular  churches,  or- 
daining, translating  and  judging  ministers,  adopt- 
ing standards — the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith   and   Directory   in    1729,   just  as  the  General 


HISTORY  OF  COURTS  IN  GRADATION  35 

Assembly  of  Scotland  had  done  in  1645 — without 
sending  down  overtures  to  the  presbyteries  on  the 
subject.  This  privilege  was  a  grant,  subsequently 
made,  in  the  way  of  distribution,  vesting  rights  be- 
low which  are,  of  course,  irrevocable,  from  the 
reservoir  of  power  inherent  in  that  supreme  assem- 
bly which  most  fully  represents  Christ  himself  and 
all  the  particular  churches  of  this  denomination,  as 
it  was  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  in 
the  "Barrier  Act"  by  the  General  Assembly  of 
Scotland. 

We  may  now  see  that  two  republican  structures 
grew  up  together  on  this  continent  during  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  converse  of  each  other,  but 
all  the  more  concordant  and  helpful  to  each  other 
on  this  account— Church  republicanism  and  State 
republicanism.  Very  much  alike  in  being  both  the 
ordinance  of  God,  and  both  constructed  largely  by 
Presbyterian  hands,  and  both  containing  the  demo- 
cratic element  in  large  proportion,  yet  they  differ 
essentially  in  the  order  and  place  they  gave  to  real 
democracy.  The  Church  begins  in  heaven;  the 
State  begins  on  earth.  The  Church  begins  with 
unity;  the  State  with  multiplicity.  The  Church  is 
founded  on  one  divine  "Rock'";  the  State  is 
founded  on  many  minute  constituencies  of  men. 
The  Church  secures  her  safety  and  the  liberty  of  her 
people  by  the  exercise  of  power  in^but  one  branch 


36  TWO  REPUBLICAN  STRUCTURES 

of  it,  committed  to  men,  the  judicial,  and  that 
modified  by  the  equities  of  paternal  discretion;  the 
State  secures  her  safety  and  the  Hberty  of  her  peo- 
ple by  the  coordinate  exercise  of  power  in  three 
branches,  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive,  with 
as  little  of  the  paternal  as  possible.  The  Church  is 
complete  only  in  the  representation  of  all  the  gifts 
and  graces  emanating  from  her  Head  and  flowing 
down  to  the  skirts  of  priesthood  in  her  people  of 
every  name  and  place  and  age,  making  it  impossible 
for  any  true  Presbyterian  to  be  a  bigot  and  out  of 
cooperative  union  with  a  single  feature  of  Jesus 
wherever  it  is  seen;  the  State  may  be  complete  in 
but  one  fragment  of  an  empire,  an  island  as  well 
as  a  continent,  a  revolted  province  or  colony  as  well 
as  a  subjugated  kingdom  annexed;  so  that  it  is  im- 
possible for  a  true  citizen  to  be  cosmopolitan,  as  a  true 
Christian  is  catholic,  or  to  travel  from  one  country 
to  another,  without  being  an  alien.  Insubordination 
is  death  to  the  State,  rebellion  being  "as  the  sin  of 
witchcraft'';  but  the  resistance  even  of  conscience 
to  behests  of  the  Church  mav  weaken  her  energies 
and  disturb  her  peace,  but  cannot  touch  her  life, 
which  is  "hid  with  Christ  in  God."  These  two 
systems  were  never  so  thoroughly  compared  and 
sharply  contrasted,  and  yet  inseparably  held,  as 
they  were  by  our  fathers  in  the  forming  period  of 
our  Church,  between  1706  and  1789. 


TWO   CURRENTS  MEET  37 

Simultaneous  with  tiiis  movement  of  two  struc- 
tures was  tlie  movement  of  two  currents  within 
the  province  of  ecclesiastical  formation.  One  was 
from  the  North  and  the  other  from  the  South,  and  they 
met  at  Philadelphia.  The  Northern  current  issued 
from  a  theocracy  in  New  England,  which  was  then 
at  the  best  of  its  experiment,  having  blended  with 
a  civil  administration  the  government  and  discipline 
of  the  Church  and  rivaled  the  beautiful  theocracy  of 
Calvin  at  Geneva  in  the  century  before;  and  like 
that  Helvetian  model,  it  was  transient  as  beautiful, 
leaving  the  Church  it  had  cherished  to  weakness  for 
schism  and  Socinianism,  and  the  State  it  had  sancti- 
fied to  laughter,  through  all  coming  generations,  at 
the  "blue"  regulations  which  governed  forefather 
times.  The  current  from  the  South  was  all  Scotch- 
Irish,  with  a  little  Welsh  in  its  element,  made  up  of 
rivulets  which  owed  alike  their  dispersion  and  con- 
fluence in  the  wilderness  to  bitter  intolerance  of 
Church  and  State  united  in  the  Old  World,  and  was 
now  swelling  to  a  volume  which  would  henceforth 
dash  every  scheme  that  would  establish  religion  by 
lav/  and  divest  the  Church  of  government  or  dis- 
cipline prescribed  by  her  own  Lord  alone.  There 
v/as  some  ridging  and  foaming  when  these  currents 
met  to  form  that  river  which  has  made  glad  the 
city  of  our  God,  although  the  Southern  current,  like 
the  Gulf  Stream  in  the  Atlantic,  prevailed  with  its 


38  PRE8B  YTERIA  NISM  PRE  ] VJ ILS 

direction,  and  made  the  Independent  Presbyterian 
Andrews,  of  Pliiladelphia,  who  had  written  to  Dr. 
Colman,  of  Boston,  about  the  overture  of  John 
Thompson  for  subscription  to  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith,  offered  first  in  1727  and  pressed 
to  the  vote  in  1729,  that  he  "  had  been  in  hopes  they 
would  hear  no  more  of  it,"  and  Dickinson,  of 
EUzabeth,  who  had  published,  in  strictures  upon  it, 
that  such  a  subscription  would  be  like  the  wall 
about  Laish — nothing  of  protection,  but  a  snare — 
were  soon  more  than  contented,  both  of  them. 
And  all  the  others  of  that  stream — Pemberton, 
Pierson,  Morgan,  Elmer,  Webb  and  Pumry,  with 
the  churches  of  East  Jersey  and  Long  Island — 
yielded  and  owned  with  glad  reminiscence  that  it 
proved  to  be  all  the  benefit  its  authors  had  promised. 
And  no  wonder  they  were  so  easily  satisfied  with 
Westminster  at  that  time,  when  the  Northern 
current  bore  on  its  bosom  Cambridge  and  Saybrook 
platforms  going  to  pieces — synods  and  ruling  elders 
in  rafts  which  could  be  floated  on  only  by  the 
stronger  withs  of  Presbyterian  organization. 

Instead  of  checking  the  influx  of  Puritan  ministers 
and  people,  the  formal  adoption  of  our  standards 
increased  the  number,  until,  within  one  generation, 
from  being  as  one  to  seven,  it  became  almost  one 
to  three,  in  the  proportion  of  ministers.  Instead  of 
depressing  the  energy  and  influence  of  New  Eng- 


JJIJS   OF  iSElV  ENGLAND   CONTENT  39 

land  men  to  acquiesce  reluctantly  in  the  subscription 
which  Irish  and  Scotch  members,  in  their  strong 
majority,  had  imposed,  they  became  honored 
guides  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  through  the 
stormy  and  eventful  midst  of  the  last  century.  It 
might  even  be  called  the  Dickinson  age  of  our 
Church.  Scotch  and  Irish  ministers  never  dominated 
as  a  party  in  their  successful  structure  of  our  system. 
The  leading  authors  were  from  New  England,  with 
the  exception  of  Gilbert  Tennent,  whose  book  and 
pamphlets  issued  from  the  press,  it  was  said,  "as 
bees  from  a  hive."  Not  to  speak  of  Edwards  in 
this  connection,  Jonathan  and  Moses  Dickinson  and 
Joseph  Morgan,  of  Freehold,  were  prolific  authors; 
and  the  first  of  these  three  had  no  superior  in  han- 
dling the  press  of  that  day  for  the  service  of  that 
generation  and  the  generations  following. 

But  scarcely  had  the  fabric  of  this  fair  construction 
been  completed  with  so  much  harmony  of  council 
and  adornment  of  ability  and  learning,  piety  and 
zeal,  when  it  was  subject  to  a  strain  which  has  no 
parallel  in  history.  Lest  it  should  be  exalted  above 
measure  by  the  consciousness  of  strength  in  its 
unity  and  orthodoxy  and  force  of  discipline,  it  was 
humbled  and  almost  ruined  by  the  agitations  of 
that  "great  awakening  "  which  was  so  world-wide 
in  the  days  of  Whitefield  and  Wesley,  Davenport, 
Edwards,    Dickinson   and   the  Tennents.     Perhaps 


40  TRIAL    OF   THE   GltEAT  AWAKENING 

the  temper  of  its  organization  was  too  rigid  for  such 
a  time,  and  the  attitude  of  fencing  against  the  laxity 
which  was  coming  in  from  abroad  had  induced  a 
reserve  and  suspicion  that  were  excessive  in  the 
body  of  our  old  synod.  Probably  also  many  of  its 
best  ministers  and  people  were  too  indiscriminate  in 
challenging  a  revival  of  religion  which  had  so  much 
'  of  tumult  and  disorder  in  its  manifestations,  rad- 
icalism in  its  pretensions  and  fanatical  bitterness  in 
its  judgments.  Certainly,  also,  there  was  much 
declension  of  practical  godliness,  considering  the 
recent  high  and  perfectly  harmonious  attainment  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  purity  of  doctrine  and 
simplicity  of  order  and  worship.  But  these  were 
faults  which  only  ''the  meekness  and  gentleness 
of  Christ  "  in  the  unction  of  his  ministers  could  deal 
with.  The  wrath  of  man,  however,  unhappily 
attempted  to  work  the  righteousness  of  God  when 
Samuel  Blair  and  Gilbert  Tennent  undertook  to  con- 
vert the  Church  instead  of  the  world  with  their  burn- 
ing zeal  and  wonderful  abilities. 

They  began  with  acrimonious  invective.  Irri- 
tated by  the  strictures  of  slow  but  sober-minded 
brethren  on  the  enthusiasm  of  Whitefield  and  his 
coworkers,  the  most  ardent  of  whom  was  Gilbert 
Tennent — their  pretensions  to  know  precisely  who 
were  converted  among  the  people  and  who  were 
unconverted   among  the  ministers,    and   their   en- 


>>, 


EXCESSES  OF  THE  llEl'IVALISTS  (a\ 

couragement  of  strange  disorder  in  the  meetings 
for  worship,  the  hideous  outcries,  bodily  agitations 
and  convulsive  fits  of  "the  falling  work,"  alike  in 
the  camp  meeting  and  the  Church — Tennent  and 
Blair,  at  the  open  synod,  charged  their  fellow- 
members  in  formal  "presentation"  papers,  read 
before  a  crowd  of  promiscuous  followers,  with  un- 
regeneracy  of  heart,  heresy  of  doctrine  (for  allow- 
ing our  own  happiness  to  be  a  motive  at  all  in 
obedience  to  God),  pharisaic  hypocrisy  and  dead 
formality  in  their  ministrations.  In  the  same  year 
Gilbert  Tennent  preached  at  Nottingham  a  sermon 
on  "the  dangers  of  an  unconverted  ministry," 
which  was  filled  with  the  most  malign  denunciation 
of  evangelical  men  that  fanaticism  could  express  in 
our  language — a  sermon  published  twice  at  Phila- 
delphia and  once  at  Boston,  and  scattered  like  the 
leaves  of  November  among  the  churches.  In  this 
"Nottingham  sermon  "  the  people  were  advised  to 
judge  their  ministers  and  assured  that  they  were 
capable  of  discerning  the  unconverted  among  their 
shepherds,  and  that  it  was  their  duty  to  forsake  the 
ministry  of  such  and  quit  hearing  any  man  whose 
preaching  did  not  profit  their  souls  according  to 
their  own  judgment  and  taste.  Along  with  this  in- 
cendiary libel  sown  broadcast  through  the  land 
were  actual  intrusions  into  the  churches  of  such 
men  as  Alison  and  Boyd,  Gillespie  and  Thomson, 


42  NEW  BRUNSWICK  INSUBORDINATION 

not  one  church  in  the  whole  presbytery  of  Donegal 
escaping  rupture;  divisions  made  and  gloried  in, 
despite  the  solemn  and  repeated  warning  of  synod. 
Added  to  all  was  open  disobedience  to  the  order  of 
the  synod  that  a  liberal  education  should  be  required 
of  candidates  for  the  ministry — either  a  diploma 
from  some  approved  college  or  an  examination  sus- 
tained by  the  synod — before  any  presbytery  could 
be  allowed  to  take  the  candidate  on  trials  for  license 
and  ordination.  The  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick 
was  no  sooner  created  in  1738  than  it  began  to  pro- 
test against  this  order,  and  actually  proceeded  to 
license  John  Rowland,  with  total  disregard  of  the 
injunction.  The  synod,  having  a  right  to  judge  of 
the  proper  qualification  of  its  own  members,  re- 
fused to  acknowledge  license  and  ordination  so 
irregularly  made,  and  refused  a  seat  to  any  one  so 
introduced.  The  dispute  occasioned  by  this  an- 
archy involved  other  points  of  deviation,  at  which 
"the  Brunswick  party"  began  to  swerve  with 
radical  jarring.  The  value  of  all  external  calling  to 
the  ministry  was  questioned,  the  enthusiasm  of  an 
inward  call  was  held  to  be  sufficient,  and  the  power 
of  a  synod  to  govern  a  presbytery  with  anything 
stronger  than  mere  advice  was  denied.  Antinomian 
tendencies  were  developed  on  every  hand,  and  the 
preaching  of  duty  was  denounced;  learning  and 
soundness  and  regularity  of  life  were  contemned  as 


THE   TEN  KENT  E A  JULY  43 

inadequate  vouchers  for  minister  or  member  unless 
he  could  tell  exactly  when  and  how  he  was  con- 
verted, and  retain  the  assurance  of  this  reality  as 
distinctly  in  his  knowledge  as  he  could  "a  thought 
of  his  mind  or  a  stab  in  his  flesh." 

It  was  well  for  the  Church  that  the  life  of  this 
party  was  the  family  of  the  Tennents.  They  had 
a  school  which  was  very  good,  but  very  poor — a 
log  college — with  their  father  at  the  head  of  it,  the 
best  of  teachers  in  the  last  century,  but  extremely 
straitened  in  his  means  and  immeasurably  scant  of 
the  resources  and  appointments  which  belonged  to 
the  colleges  of  New  England.  Unfortunately,  the 
requirement  of  a  diploma  or  an  examination  by  the 
synod  itself,  in  order  to  be  taken  on  trials  for 
licensure,  seemed  to  overlook  too  much  the  great 
service  of  that  Neshaminy  schooling,  and  mentioned 
only  the  chartered  colleges  of  this  and  other  lands. 
The  senior  William  Tennent,  master  of  the  log  col- 
lege and  father  of  four  illustrious  ministers— Gilbert, 
William,  John  and  Charles— had  come  from  Ire- 
land ordained  a  priest  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  and  had  renounced  Episcopacy  in  coming 
here  mainly  because  of  objections  to  the  use  of 
liturgical  forms  in  worship.  He  had  little  or  no 
sympathy  with  the  tumult  of  the  time,  except  as  he 
lived  in  his  sons  and  pupils,  and  burned  because 
they  were   offended  with   the  imaginary  slight  of 


44  JOHN  AND    WILLIAM  AT  FREEHOLD 

Neshaminy  by  the  synod.  John,  the  third  son,  had 
finished  his  course  at  Freehold,  N.  J.,  before  he  was 
twenty-five  years  old,  in  1732,  and  in  a  ministry  of 
scarcely  two  full  years  had  gathered  a  harvest  for 
his  Lord  in  that  "poor  distracted  Scottish  church" 
where  he  saw  the  firstfruits  of  the  great  revival 
which  was  so  soon  to  overspread  the  continent. 
His  brother  William  succeeded  him  in  that  charge 
with  similar  success,  and  a  very  peculiar  fame  for 
the  supernatural  in  the  course  of  his  life.  Charles 
was  the  youngest  of  these  brothers,  and  settled  in 
the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle,  where  his  influence 
reinforced  the  New  Brunswick  party  beyond  the 
limits  of  that  "  protesting"  presbytery. 

But  the  strong  man  of  this  great  family  was 
Gilbert,  the  eldest  son,  fourteen  years  old  when  he 
came  to  this  country,  taught  everything  by  his 
father,  whom  he  also  assisted  in  the  log  college, 
and  the  first  Presbyterian  minister  whose  whole 
education  for  the  office  had  been  received  in 
America.  When  George  Whitefield  arrived  at 
Philadelphia  in  173c),  he  hastened  to  Neshaminy  to 
imbibe  the  lessons  of  that  school  and  the  spirit  of 
the  prophets  there.  Gilbert  Tennent  was  the  man  of 
all  others  whom  he  most  admired  as  a  preacher  and 
as  a  guide  in  adapting  his  own  resplendent  ministry 
to  the  character  of  the  churches  and  the  conversion 
of  the  American  people.     To  him  he  was  indebted 


WHITEFIELD    WITH  THE   TENNENTS  45 

also  for  most  of  the  mistakes,  antipathies  and  illu- 
sions which  marred  his  career  in  this  land.  The 
fame  of  Whitetleld,  however,  became  that  of  the 
Tennents  also  in  consequence  of  this  intimacy  and 
companionship,  giving  immense  advantage  with 
the  people  to  any  side  of  a  contest  on  which  Gilbert 
was  engaged.  The  censoriousness,  the  intrusions, 
the  distraction  of  parishes,  pretensions  to  judge  the 
hearts  of  men,  the  defiance  of  synodical  authority, — 
all  these  and  other  fanatical  excesses  were  so  glo- 
rious for  a  while,  in  the  company  of  Whitefield  and 
the  Tennents,  that  reflecting  men  who  had  rejoiced  in 
the  revival  at  tirst  beheld  with  consternation  the 
true  glory  of  their  infant  Church  departing.  Dis- 
couraged, disorganized,  left  by  the  multitude  and 
having  no  longer  the  "many"  to  sustain  them  in 
forms  of  judicial  process,  they  determined  to  meet 
the  extremity  with  a  measure  that  corresponded 
with  its  lawlessness. 

At  the  synod  of  1741,  Robert  Cross,  the  successor 
of  Andrews  in  Philadelphia,  offered  a  ''protest" 
against  the  "protestors"  or  Brunswick  party, 
which  enumerated  with  great  precision  and  power 
the  many  evils  which  that  party  had  brought  upon 
the  Church  and  which  threatened  her  destruction, 
proposing  to  renounce  all  further  connection  with 
those  brethren  until  they  would  confess  and  abjure 
the  errors  of  their  way.     It  was  placed  on  the  table 


46  FliOTEST  OF  ROBERT  CROSS 

for  signatures,  and  a  scene  of  the  utmost  confusion 
followed.  It  is  said  the  moderator  left  his  chair,  and 
the  galleries,  crowded  with  excited  people,  who 
generally  sympathized  with  the  new  side,  turned 
the  confusion  into  uproar.  Each  side  claimed  to  be 
the  synod,  and  with  much  difficulty  order  was 
restored  enough  to  count  the  signatures  to  this  pro- 
test and  the  numbers  opposed.  It  appeared  that  the 
former,  called  henceforth  the  Old  Side,  had  the 
majority,  and  the  latter,  called  the  New  Side,  with- 
drew. Thus  the  schism  of  the  last  century  began; 
and  we  must  mark  the  finger  of  God  for  good  even 
in  this  little  thing — that  the  act  of  separation  was  a 
muss  and  not  a  vote.  Half  a  generation  might  heal 
the  one,  a  whole  generation  it  would  take  to  heal 
the  other.  As  it  was  well  ordered  that  the  whole 
combination  of  the  disturbing  party  hung  upon  the 
character  and  will  of  Gilbert  Tennent,  so  it  was 
well  ordered  that  the  protest  which  meant  to  revo- 
lutionize the  Church  with  an  overture  rather  than  to 
conserve  her  with  the  process  of  her  own  discipline 
should  be  in  no  proper  technical  sense  an  act  of  the 
constituted  synod. 

Providentially,  also,  the  whole  Presbytery  of  New 
York  was  absent  from  that  meeting  of  the  synod. 
Next  year,  1742,  it  appeared,  and  Jonathan  Dickinson, 
one  of  its  members,  became  the  moderator.  He  at 
once  proposed  that  the  separated  brethren  of  the 


OVERTURE  OF  JONATHAN  DICKINSON  47 

previous  year  should  be  restored  to  their  seats — not 
because  he  thought  they  were  blameless,  for  he 
condemned  their  excesses;  not  because  they  had 
become  either  penitent  or  apologetic,  for  they  were 
going  on  to  license  others  without  regard  to  the 
authority  of  the  synod,  and  to  rend  the  churches  in 
every  direction  and  beyond  all  bounds  with  active 
intrusion  and  malign  aspersion  of  the  pastors;  but 
because  the  whole  transaction  of  1741  had  been 
irregular  and  unconstitutional.  The  excluded 
brethren  ought  to  have  been  arraigned  by  their 
presbyteries  or  by  the  synod  itself  with  process  of 
discipline,  and  ejected  only  with  a  full  and  faultless 
record.  But  he  failed.  The  majority  objected  with 
keen  force  that  absentees  of  the  preceding  year 
should  not  assume  the  position  of  judges  and  seek 
to  reverse  what  might  have  been  better  done  if  they 
had  been  present.  Trial  according  to  forms  of 
process  in  the  Directory  was  impossible  when  the 
offenders  were  leading  the  multitude  and  insisting 
to  the  last  count  that  they  were  the  synod  them- 
selves. And  even  a  reconsideration  of  the  act 
could  not  be  moved  when  it  had  never  been  voted, 
and  was  now  a  rupture  in  fact  without  a  record  in 
order.  There  was  no  remedy  but  return  of  the 
excluded  party  to  a  better  mind.  Thus  the  schism 
was  continued. 

For    three    years    the    Dickinson    proposal    was 


48  THE  SYNOD  OF  NEW  YORK 

pressed  on  the  synod,  and  conferences  were  held, 
with  alternate  overtures  to  the  synod  and  to  the  ex- 
cluded members.  The  latter  had  been  brought  by 
Aaron  Burr  and  others  to  the  point  of  confessing 
with  regret  nearly  all  the  charges  of  irregularity  and 
wrong,  demanding  in  return  that  the  protest  of 
Cross  should  be  withdrawn  from  the  files  and  rec- 
ords of  the  synod.  But  this  was  refused  for  the 
simple  reason  that  all  its  allegations  were  true,  and 
truer  every  year.  At  length  (1745)  the  Presbytery 
of  New  York  formed  itself  into  a  synod  and  took 
upon  its  own  roll  the  exscinded  Presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick  and  all  others  in  their  following.  This 
was  done  with  little  or  no  heat  of  resentment  or 
antagonism  in  any  particular,  but  the  technical  point 
of  restoring  to  visible  unity  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church  a  body  of  men  who  were  mad  with  en- 
thusiasm, but  sound  in  the  faith  and  preeminently 
gifted  for  the  service  of  Christ.  It  was  expressly 
and  thoroughly  understood  in  this  formation  that 
the  New  York  Synod,  as  it  was  now  called,  was 
one  with  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia;  not  only  in  an 
honest  adherence  to  the  Westminster  standards,  but 
aiso  in  every  particular  of  decency  and  order  which 
had  been  specified  in  the  dividing  protest  of  1741. 
Its  attitude  from  the  beginning  was  that  of  reunion; 
and  if  it  had  only  repressed  with  a  firm  hand  "tlie 
intiusions  "  with  which  the  Brunswick  party  con- 


JIEEKyE.'S:S   OF   THE   OLD   SVyoi)  49 

linued  to  agitate  and  divide  the  churches  adhering 
to  "  the  Old  Side,"  there  would  not  have  been  three 
instead  of  thirteen  years  more  of  separation.  Here 
was  the  standing  cause  of  discord,  making  every 
year  an  ultimate  reconstruction  of  parishes  and 
presbyteries  in  case  of  reunion  more  impracticable. 
The  swelling  tide  of  prosperity  which  favcH'ed  the 
Synod  of  New  York,  and  the  halo  of  brilliant  men 
and  sainted  evangelists  which  adorned  her  ministry 
at  the  time,  hid  from  the  world  the  sin  of  this  ob- 
liquity, and  left  many  a  precious  light  in  the  terri- 
tory of  the  old  synod  to  be  quenched  by  reason  of 
distraction. 

The  glory  of  our  old  Synod  of  Philadelphia 
through  all  these  times  of  excitement  and  convul- 
sion was  the  "ornament"  of  her  "meek  and  quiet 
spirit."  When  Gilbert  Tennent  and  Samuel  Blair 
insulttid  her  to  the  face  at  the  first  with  charges  of 
unregeneracy,  unfaithfulness  and  opposition  to  the 
Spirit  of  God,  she  adopted  unanimously  and  sent 
forth  to  the  churches,  as  well  as  enjoined  on  her 
ministers,  the  pastoral  minute  requiring  them  to 
take  heed  to  themselves  and  search  and  see  whether 
these  things  were  so.  When  John  Thompson,  her 
great  conservative  and  defender  by  the  press,  took 
up  the  task  of  her  vindication  in  his  imperishable 
book  on  church  government,  he  did  it  with  lowli- 
ness of  spirit,  modesty  and  candor  and  consistency. 


50  INCONSISTENCY  OF  GILBERT  TENNENT 

throughout,  which  were  in  singular  contrast  with 
the  haughty  contempt  of  the  "Nottingham"  ser- 
mon and  its  volleys  of  subsequent  defense. 

So  it  was  through  all  the  ensuing  conferences  had 
between  the  synods  until  the  reunion  came  about  in 
1758.  Though  her  desolated  and  fragmentary 
churches  could  not  be  restored  by  any  organic  un- 
ion, and  though  her  great  protest  of  1741  must  be 
affirmed  at  every  conference  as  the  truth  of  history 
and  the  moderation  of  justice  to  the  character  of 
both  parties,  she  was  willing  to  meet  the  chronic 
demand  for  its  withdrawal  by  a  phrase  which 
yielded  no  principle,  but  kept  the  fact  for  all  future 
generations  in  a  state  of  negative  solution.  It  was 
that  the  protest  of  1741  "was  not  the  act  of  the 
synod."  On  this  phrase  the  two  bodies  agreed,  and 
the  main  dispute  was  over. 

Another  cause  of  reunion  was  the  complete  hu- 
miliation of  Gilbert  Tennent.  That  "son  of  thun- 
der" had  discomfited  himself,  and  the  strong  staff 
of  the  disturbing  party  was  broken.  He  was  the 
father  of  controversy  in  the  American  Presbyterian 
Church.  Not  by  any  false  doctrine  avowed  nor  by 
any  scandal  coming  on  his  life  nor  by  any  paralysis 
of  intellect  and  power  of  speech  nor  by  loss  of 
zeal  for  the  cause  of  Christ  in  the  salvation  of  souls, 
but  by  the  extreme  severity  of  his  temper  in  relig- 
ious  controversy,   he   fell   from    leadership  in    this 


INCONSISTENCY  OF  GILBERT  TENNENT         51 

Church.  It  awakened  suspicion  of  error  when  he 
was  seen  to  be  tossed  continually  to  the  verge  on 
this  side  and  that  of  the  vast  area  he  trod  in  dispu- 
tation, it  arrayed  against  him  the  fears  of  all  con- 
siderate men,  whether  timid  or  courageous;  and  the 
man  who  excites  our  fears  never  could  govern 
Presbyterians.  And,  above  all,  it  confounded  him- 
self with  a  maze  of  inconsistencies  from  which 
there  could  be  no  recovery.  He  had  voted  in  the 
synod  to  approve  of  the  admirable  paper  on  the 
controversy  between  him  and  David  Cowell  respect- 
ing the  foundation  of  moral  obligation,  and  yet  soon 
afterwards  flung  that  paper  back  upon  the  synod  as 
heretical,  in  permitting  our  own  happiness  in  any 
sense  to  mingle  with  the  glory  of  God  in  motives  of 
obedience.  He  had  assailed  Count  Zinzendorf  and 
the  Moravians  with  pamphlets  as  well  as  speeches 
of  vehement  censure,  in  which  every  objection  was 
a  condemnation  of  his  "Nottingham  sermon"  and 
a  justification  of  all  that  Robert  Cross  embodied 
in  the  memorable  "  protest  of  1741."  He  had  con- 
fessed in  a  letter  of  penitence  to  Jonathan  Dickinson 
the  great  errors  of  his  extravagance  enumerated  in 
that  protest,  and  had  this  letter  widely  published 
among  the  churches  at  the  very  time  a  third  edition 
of  the  Nottingham  sermon  was  coming  from  the 
press  in  Boston  under  his  own  direction.  Pam- 
phleteers on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  were  not  slow 


52  HIS   CONFESSIONS  AND   THE   COLLEGE 

to  blazon  "  Gilbert  vs.  Tennent;  "  and  so  great  was 
the  prejudice  against  him  of  good  men  abroad  that 
the  mission  of  Samuel  Davies  and  himself  to  Great 
Britain  for  the  College  of  New  Jersey  would  have 
been  a  failure  if  he  had  not  humbly  retracted 
the  Nottingham  sermon  in  London,  although  the 
last  conspicuous  exploit  of  his  pen  just  before  leav- 
ing home  was  a  fresh  demand  upon  the  synod  of 
Philadelphia,  as  a  term  of  reunion,  that  the  protest 
of  1741,  which  had  complained  of  that  sermon, 
should  be  pronounced  null  and  void  and  virtually 
untrue.  Not  in  his  lifetime  and  ascendency  could 
there  have  been  a  reunion  if  he  had  not  published 
his  Ireniciim,  confessing  his  inconsistency  and  ex- 
travagance as  he  doffed  the  great  coat  and  leathern 
girdle  in  which  he  had  thundered  from  Delaware  to 
Maine,  and  consented  to  retire  as  an  ordinary  pastor 
to  the  Second  Church  of  Philadelphia. 

Another  cause  of  reconciliation  which  mightily 
constrained  the  greater  to  seek  reunion  with  the  less 
at  that  time  was  the  virtual  transference  of  the  log 
college  from  Neshaminy  to  Princeton,  whither, 
some  two  years  before  its  consummation.  Burr  and 
seventy  students  had  removed  the  College  of  New 
Jersey  from  Newark.  The  jealousy  of  all  the  Ten- 
nents  had  been  buried  in  the  grave  of  their  father  at 
the  very  time  this  college  began  with  the  presidency 
of  Jonathan  Dickinson  at  Elizabeth,  and  the  pros- 


MAIN  CAUSE   OF  REUNION  53 

perous  academies  of  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  and 
Delaware,  nearly  all  of  them  nurtured  by  the  Old 
Side,  came  to  be  coveted  and  courted  as  feeders  for 
the  College  of  New  Jersey. 

But  the  great  cause  which  secured  and  hastened  a 
reunion  was  precisely  that  "  wall  "  which  had  sur- 
rounded both  these  bodies  all  the  while  of  their  ap- 
parent separation,  which  Dickinson  himself  had 
said,  in  1729,  would  fall  "if  so  much  as  a  fox 
would  go  over  it  " — the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith,  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  and  Directory 
of  Government,  Discipline  and  Worship.  This 
palladium,  as  v/ell  as  bulwark  around  them,  rallied 
all  the  parties,  restrained  the  factions,  gathered  the 
fragments  without  any  loss,  and  proved  once  for  all 
to  the  ages  that  a  full  creed  is  not  a  dividing  wedge, 
but  the  very  handle  of  concord,  and  a  witnessing 
Church  that  testifies  for  Christ  in  her  own  words  to 
the  whole  extent  of  her  attainment  will  never  be 
left  '-a  portion  for  foxes."  It  was  the  centennial 
time  of  our  old  standards,  and  never  had  they  been 
hailed  with  glory  and  enthusiasm  on  every  side  as 
when  history  came  to  make  up  the  results  of  a 
world-wide  revival. 

The  reunion  was  accomplished  in  17^8,  and  the 
name  then  given  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  was  "The  Synod  of  New 
York    and    Philadelphia."     A   few   months   before 


.34  THE  REUNION  ACCOMI'LISHED 

that  consummation  Jonathan  Edwards  died;  a  few 
months  before  him  his  son-in-law,  Aaron  Burr,  had 
died;  Jonathan  Dickinson  ten  years  before  him. 
Andrews,  Brainerd  and  Robinson  had  also  departed, 
three  apostolic  men  and  missionaries,  one  to  Phila- 
delphia, another  to  the  Indians  and  a  third  to  Vir- 
ginia. So  had  Samuel  Blair,  "  the  incomparable," 
and  John  Thompson  "the  conservative." 

What  a  roll  of  renowned  and  sainted  men  of  the 
interval  might  be  called  who  had  been  written  on 
this  side  and  that  of  the  division  on  earth,  and  were 
by  that  time  summoned  away  to  the  Church  of  the 
firstborn  that  are  written  in  heaven!  But  a  host 
remained  for  a  new  era — the  Alisons,  the  Tennents, 
the  Finleys,  the  Smiths,  Prime,  Pemberton,  Pierson, 
Rodgers,  Roan,  Miller,  Spencer,  Beatty,  Bostwick, 
Buell,  Robert  Cross,  John  Blair,  James  Brown, 
George  Duffield,  and  that  young  man  who  had 
charmed  with  his  eloquence  the  intolerance  of  the 
South,  and  prophesied  of  Washington  atBraddock's 
defeat,  and  gathered  endowment  for  Princeton  from 
the  opposite  hemisphere,  and  was  just  now  to  enter 
on  the  presidency  of  Nassau  Hall— Samuel  Davies. 

One  hundred  ministers  began  to  assemble  in  the 
synod  now,  and  to  represent  nearly  twice  that  num- 
ber of  nominal  churches.  Gilbert  Tennent  was  the 
first  moderator,  Robert  Cross  the  second.  "Pro- 
testers "  on   both   sides  of  the  quarrel  and  schism 


MUTUAL   CONCESSION  55 

were  now  successors  to  each  other  in  harmonious 
line.  If  Gilbert  was  first  in  the  honor  of  presiding 
over  the  united  body,  Robert  was  first  in  construct- 
ing the  platform  on  which  he  was  elevated.  The 
plan  of  reunion  embodied  every  plank  of  principle 
on  which  the  Old  Side  had  been  standing  for  seven- 
teen years,  and  every  item  of  additional  incorpo- 
ration would  have  been  at  any  time  assented  to  if  it 
had  been  overtured  without  demanding  the  formal 
cancelling  of  their  "  protest." 

It  was  indeed  ordered  well  that  mere  ''protest" 
should  not  be  allowed  again  to  disrupt  a  synod.  It 
was  equally  well  defined  that  the  work  of  God's 
own  Spirit  in  the  ministrations  of  truth  should  not 
be  gainsaid  because  of  paroxysms  in  the  flesh  which 
might  incidentally  attend  it.  The  existence  of  a 
college  among  us  on  this  side  of  New  England  was 
now  conceded  as  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  synod 
to  intrust  the  presbyteries  with  independent  judg- 
ment on  the  qualifications  in  learning  of  candidates 
for  the  ministry.  And  the  sad  disruption  of  so 
many  churches  by  the  "  intrusions"  chargeable  on 
the  Brunswick  party  in  the  day  of  their  heat  was 
accepted  as  a  fact  which  could  not  be  remedied  in 
reconstruction,  beyond  enactment  that  the  territorial 
integrity  of  parishes  should  not  be  disturbed  in  that 
way  again.  With  few  exceptions,  the  Old  Side 
were  content  with  this  adjustment,  because  it  was 


56  EXCELLENCE   OE   THE  FLAN 

seen  upon  every  hand  that  good  had  been  brought 
out  of  that  evil,  and  in  that  very  thing  divine  Prov- 
idence had  rebuked  the  grudging  reluctancy  with 
which  so  many  congregations  of  the  Old  Side  re- 
sisted the  work  of  church  extension  against  the  tide 
of  ever-swelling  populations.  In  short,  the  dis- 
tinctive gains  to  the  New  Side  in  that  memorable 
compact  of  reunion  were  all  in  the  direction  of  the 
Old  side  as  well — Westminster  endorsed  again; 
order  restored;  revivals  discriminated;  majorities 
vindicated:  minorities  made  free;  sound  faith  and 
good  life  accredited  as  true  religion  without  inquisi- 
tion after  mental  states  and  a  prescribed  order  of 
experiences.  Never  was  there  a  more  perfect 
union,  never  a  more  noble  and  frank  avowal  on 
both  sides,  and  never  a  more  complete  symbol  of 
reconciliation,  than  the  plan  of  reunion  in  17S8. 
Of  course  it  distinguished  between  essential  and 
non-essential  things  in  the  submission  of  conscience 
to  that  bond.  But  it  stipulated  for  no  liberty  be- 
yond this:  no  reduction;  no  revision;  no  compli- 
ance with  expediency.  And  surely  it  had  no 
change  of  the  constitution  kept  in  abeyance  or  in 
secret  on  either  side,  to  be  sprung  upon  the  whole 
Church  as  soon  as  it  could  be  welded  together  in 
the  reconstruction. 

Thus  restored  and  harmonized  again,  the  Church 
of   our   fathers,  with   a   banner  streaming  at    full 


PROBITY   WITH  THE  INDIANS  57 

length  in  every  fold,  advanced  to  another  stage  of 
militancy,  for  which  her  equipment,  that  had  been 
gained  in  the  conflicts  of  principle,  and  structures  of 
liberty,  civil  and  religious— twin  towers,  that  she 
alone  had  studied  how  to  build  distinctly  and  to- 
gether— prepared  her  to  act  as  no  other  denomina- 
tion 'Could  act  in  those  great  events  which  filled  the 
sequel  of  a  century  from  her  beginning  in  this  land 
— missions,  wars,  and  institutions. 

For  a  whole  generation  she  had  to  fight  the 
savages  on  her  border  almost  alone.  The  proprie- 
taries of  Pennsylvania  and  early  governors  and  coun- 
cils of  this  commonwealth  strangely  allowed  the 
Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  in  her  frontier  valley,  with 
very  little  help  in  men  or  money,  to  bear  the  brunt 
of  a  warfare  the  most  cruel  that  is  recorded  in  the 
annals  of  our  country.  And  yet  from  the  sentries 
of  that  exposed  and  slaughtered  community  there 
always  went  forth  the  most  benignant  friends  of 
the  poor  Indians  to  enforce  the  faith  of  treaties  and 
keep  the  reservations  from  intrusion  and  give  them 
the  light  and  peace  of  the  gospel.  When  the 
Quaker  government  of  Pennsylvania  outwitted  the 
Delaware  Indians,  in  1737,  with  a  bargain  for  as 
much  land  "to  extend  back  in  the  woods"  as  a 
man  could  walk  over  in  a  day  and  a  half,  that  small 
but  powerful  tribe  was  irritated  greatly  when  the 
white   men   secured   by   advertisement   and  lavish 


58         CONSnCUOU^LY   FUE;SByTElUAN  FOLICY 

bounty  a  pedestrian  who  could  walk  as  fast  as  an 
Indian  could  run;  but  they  had  no  remedy.  When, 
again,  the  Six  Nations  made  their  memorable  cession 
at  Albany  in  1754  to  the  same  authorities  of  what 
the  latter  had  been  carefully  indefinite  to  describe  in 
metes  and  bounds  which  the  savages  could  com- 
prehend, and  all  middle  Pennsylvania  was  taken  as 
a  part  of  the  claim,  with  a  manifest  purpose  to  push 
it  on  to  the  setting  sun,  the  red  man  was  enraged; 
and  Braddock's  defeat  the  year  after  was  but  the 
beginning  of  horrors  which  could  be  stayed  only 
with  an  honest  concession  that  the  summit  of  the 
Alleghany  Mountain  should  be  the  limit  of  that  Al- 
bany grant.  On  the  other  hand,  the  border  valley 
of  the  Presbyterians  was  no  sooner  constituted  a 
county,  Cumberland,  than  its  authorities  enlisted 
with  eager  determination  to  repress  all  dishonest 
dealing  with  the  Indians.  When  a  few  rash  adven- 
turers, mostly  Germans,  but  with  some  Scotch- 
Irish,  moved  into  Sherman's  valley  and  other  places 
beyond  the  Kittochtinny  or  North  Mountain,  before 
the  cession  of  that  region  at  Albany,  the  Indians 
complained  of  the  encroachment;  and  instantly 
Benjamin  Chambers  and  George  Croghan,  with  other 
magistrates  and  a  considerable  force  of  men  from 
the  Presbyterian  churches,  urged  by  their  ministers, 
crossed  the  mountain  in  1742  and  constrained  the 
settlers  to  quit  their  clearings,  and  even  burn  their 


CORPORATION  OF  THE    WIDOW'S  FUND         59 

cabins  in  sight  of  the  Indians,  that  justice  might  be 
done  and  savage  resentment  avoided.^  Such  was 
the  uniform  spirit  of  equity  toward  the  Indians  on 
the  part  of  a  people  whom  certain  flippant  chron- 
iclers describe  in  this  connection  as  "a  pertinacious 
and  pugnacious  race,"  whose  trespass  on  the  In- 
dian territory  was  the  main  provocation  which 
leagued  the  Indians  with  the  French  in  the  bloody 
wars  of  that  age.  As  they  were  the  sufferers 
chiefly,  they  have  been  falsely  accused  as  the  trans- 
gressors. The  provincial  government  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  its  jealousy  of  Scotch-Irish  energy  and  ad- 
venture, its  impotency  in  the  hands  of  cunning 
knaves  who  contrived  treaties  and  got  for  a  price 
the  privilege  of  selling  rum  to  the  Indians,  has  to 
this  day  escaped  the  just  condemnation  which  history 
finds  out  in  searching  for  the  causes  of  those  horrid 
calamities  that  made  so  much  bloody  ground  on  the 
bosom  of  this  commonwealth. 

"  The  Widows'  Fund,"  the  oldest  corporation  for 
the  relief  of  desolated  families  in  America,  began 
its  benignant  work  among  the  necessitous  on  the 
frontier.  In  1760  it  sent  to  Great  Britain  Charles 
Beatty,  who  had  been  the  Irish  peddler  that  in  at- 
tempting to  sell  his  wares  to  William  Tennent  of 
Neshaminy,  by  praising  them  in  Latin,  did  it  so  well 

1  See  Irish  aud  Scotch   Early  Settlers  of  Pennsylvania,  by  the 
Hon.  George  Chambers,  1856. 


60  BEATTY  AND   DUFFIELD 

that  the  noble  teacher  was  taken  and  Beatty  himself 
was  taken  with  the  conviction  that  he  ought  to  stay 
there  and  study  for  the  ministry.  His  success  in 
gathering  funds  for  the  corporation  was  wonderful. 
Even  the  General  Assembly  of  Scotland  ordered  a 
collection  to  help  his  cause  throughout  the  churches. 
But  when  he  returned  home,  a  dispute  arose  with 
Provost  Smith,  of  Philadelphia,  respecting  the  dis- 
tribution of  these  funds — whether  the  disbursement 
should  be  a  measure  of  broad  philanthropy  to  com- 
prehend all  the  distressed  who  had  been  driven 
from  their  homes  by  the  Indians,  or  a  special  distri- 
bution to  the  Presbyterian  sufferers  whose  hus- 
bands, brothers  or  sons  had  perished  in  war  with 
the  savages.  At  length  it  was  determined  by  the 
synod  of  1766,  in  accordance  with  a  request  of  the 
corporation,  that  he  and  George  Duffield,  of  Carlisle, 
should  explore  the  condition  of  the  whole  border  to 
learn  its  necessities,  and  especially  the  spiritual  con- 
dition of  the  frontier  settlements,  and  also  what 
opportunities  might  be  had  for  giving  the  gospel  to 
the  Indians.  Beatty  was  full  of  missionary  zeal, 
having  been  much  with  Brainerd  and  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  Indian  school  supported  long  and  liber- 
ally by  the  synod.  So  far  as  can  now  be  ascer- 
tained, he  was  the  first  Protestant  minister  to  preach 
beyond  the  Alleghanies,  when  he  preached  in  17S8, 
at   Fort  Duquesne,  to  the  troops  of  Forbes'  army 


PATRIOTISM  IX   THE  FIELDS  61 

that  took  possession  of  that  post  after  it  was  evacu- 
ated by  the  French.  And  now  in  this  mission  of 
the  synod  he  was  the  first  to  preach  on  the  soil  of 
that  magnilicent  State,  Ohio,  having  penetrated  the 
wilderness  some  hundred  and  thirty  miles  and  ob- 
tained on  the  Muskingum  a  knowledge  of  the  In- 
dians to  encourage  the  establishment  of  permanent 
missionary  enterprise.  It  is  therefore  a  fact  worthy 
of  commemoration  that  when  we  say,  "Corpo- 
rations have  no  soul,"  this  one,  the  oldest  of  all 
among  Presbyterians,  stands  an  illustrious  excep- 
tion, the  first  thing  to  incite  the  synod  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  to  move  alike  in  foreign  and  do- 
mestic missions  whilst  in  pursuit  of  its  own  distinct 
and  legitimate  object,  the  succor  of  "  poor  and  dis- 
tressed "  families  of  Presbyterian  ministers. 

That  same  meeting  of  the  synod  which  sent 
Beatty  and  Duffield  to  reconnoiter  settlements  on 
the  frontier  and  open  a  pathway  to  the  Indian  towns 
beyond  was  a  jubilant  meeting,  full  of  gratulation, 
loyalty  and  patriotism.  It  voted  an  address  to  His 
Majesty  for  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act.  And 
these  brethren  found  the  whole  border  full  of  the 
same  enthusiasm.  Every  field,  every  stump,  was 
vocal  with  the  same  rejoicing.  Indeed,  fields  and 
stumps  have  always  been  the  scenic  joy  of  this  de- 
nomination. 

"The  unaccountable  humor,"  as  Makemie  called 


62  ITS  EARLY  DEMONSTRATIONS 

it,  of  the  American  people  to  live  in  the  country  and 
cultivate  the  lands  rather  than  dwell  in  villages  and 
build  up  cities,  has,  in  spite  of  his  remonstrance, 
remained  the  humor  of  the  Presbyterian  people. 
They  have  been  emphatically  from  the  beginning  a 
rural  church.  It  would  seem  as  if,  in  this  character- 
istic, the  stability  of  earth  itself  has  been  imparted 
to  this  ecclesiastical  system  in  making  the  bulk  of 
her  pastors  chorepiscopal  bishops  in  our  assemblies, 
and  making  agricultural  work  the  sinew  both  of 
money  and  virtue  in  defending  the  institutions  of 
the  Church  and  the  liberty  of  the  land.  No  sign  of 
the  times  could  be  more  at  war  with  our  traditions 
and  ominous  of  weak  degeneracy  than  the  ambi- 
tion of  ministers  to  quit  the  country  for  the  city,  as 
if  a  rural  parish  were  fit  only  to  begin  with  and  a 
metropolitan  pulpit  were  the  goal  of  aspiration,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost  were  in  waiting  for  the  work  of 
"translating  ministers"  rather  than  keeping  them 
to  "make  the  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  glad 
for  them."  Perish  the  policy  which,  either  in  edu- 
cation or  industry,  would  make  our  youth  discon- 
tented with  a  home  in  the  country!  When  the  rage 
of  fanaticism  or  frivolities  of  fashion  have  wasted 
our  churches  and  emptied  our  fanes  in  the  town, 
how  often  have  numbers  been  replaced  by  fresh 
importations  from  the  country  of  well  catechized 
believers  who  brought  with  them  revivals  of  family 


ITS  ENTHUSIASM  AT  THE  FRONTIER  63 

religion,  and  thus  became  '*  restorers  of  paths  to 
dwell  in"! 

We  know  what  kind  of  soldiers  our  Presbyte- 
rians of  the  field  have  sent  to  every  war  that  has 
been  a  war  of  defense.  Before  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  at  Philadelphia  was  written  it  began 
to  be  composed  in  the  fields  of  the  valley  and  along 
the  mountain  tops,  from  Mecklenburg  to  Carlisle 
and  from  Carlisle  to  Hannahstown,  over  the  Alle- 
ghany Mountains  and  among  the  clearings  of  West- 
moreland County.  No  historical  finesse  can  rob  the 
Presbyterian  yeomanry  of  their  credit  in  having 
sown  with  broadcast  unanimity  the  seminal  thought, 
if  not  phrases  also,  of  that  immortal  document.  It 
was  therefore  a  philosophical  justice  in  history  that 
the  only  minister  of  any  denomination  who  signed 
it  was  John  Witherspoon,  the  representative  of 
Presbyterian  education  and  a  regular  teacher  of  the- 
ology at  Princeton  half  a  century  before  Archibald 
Alexander  was  elected  to  the  office.  More  than  a 
year  before  he  signed  it  the  tidings  of  bloodshed  at 
Lexington  and  Concord  started  companies  from  the 
frontiers  of  our  Church,  and  mainly  from  the 
churches  of  the  Cumberland  Valley,  to  anticipate 
Washington  himself  at  the  siege  of  Boston,  and 
make  the  Revolution  quick  as  it  was  inevitable. 
Veteran  captains  were  found  there  quite  ready,  and 
numerous  almost  as  ministers  and  elders,  and  all  of 


64  IT^  ENTHUSIASM  AT   THE  FRONTIER 

them   eager  again  to  muster  the  host  and  fire  its 
patriotic  ardor. 

But  "  the  commencement  of  the  War  of  the  Revo- 
lution "  is  the  end  of  my  task,  and  I  desist  with 
fiHal  reverence  and  affection  at  a  center  of  patriot- 
ism even  on  the  border  of  .our  civilization  when 
that  war  began. 


From  the  War  of  the   Revolution  to  the 
Organization  of  the  General  Assembly 


CONDITION    OF  THE   PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    AT   THE 
OPENING   OF   THIS   PERIOD  (1777) 

The  storm  of  the  Revolutionary  war  broke  upon 
a  people  more  universally  peaceable,  loyal,  intel- 
ligent and  Christian  than  any  other  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  With  few  exceptions  the  entire  popu- 
lation belonged,  by  voluntary  adherence,  to  some 
one  of  the  various  fractions  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Speculative  atheism  there  was  none;  of  subtle  in- 
fidelity hardly  a  trace;  and  the  coarse  and  brutal  in- 
fidelity of  Paine  and  his  school  was  only  beginning 
to  make  its  way  amid  the  lower  stratum  of  society. 
Nowhere  was  education  more  universal;  nowhere 
was  the  Bible  more  the  book  of  the  home,  or  the 
sanctuary  dearer  to  the  heart;  nowhere  were  man- 
ners simpler,  habits  more  frugal,  domestic  virtue 
and  official  integrity  more  sacred;  nowhere  were 
the  minister  and  the  schoolmaster  in  higher  esteem. 
Taking  the  colonies  at  large,  the  Church  existed  in 

65 


66  CONDITION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

as  pure  a  state  as  had  ever  been  realized  in  this  her 
mixed  and  militant  condition. 

But  she  existed  in  the  form  of  a  multitude  of 
sects— all  the  chief  sects,  at  least,  that  had  already 
originated  in  England,  with  the  addition  of  a  few 
transplanted  from  the  Continent  of  Europe.  Of 
these  only  the  Congregationalists,  the  Presbyterians 
and  the  Episcopalians  have  any  special  significance 
in  relation  to  the  period  we  are  now  contemplating. 
And  popularly  the  first  two  were  regarded  as  one. 
The  religious  element  involved  in  the  rebellion  was 
invariably  spoken  of,  whether  in  or  out  of  New  Eng- 
land, as  Presbyterian.^ 

UijT  Mein  Hauss 
DE  8te  Ao.  1762. 
To  THE  Hon.  Sir  Wm.  Johnson  :— 

That  ij  reit  these  letter  en  trouble  you  bij  these  ij  be  forced  for 
it :  the  reason  is  because  ij  heard  yesterday  in  the  castle  that  the 
Bostoniers  were'  designed  to  erect  schools  in  everij  castle  by  choos- 
ing uijt  two  Jung  boijs  for  to  be  send  in  nieu  engelland  to  be  in- 
structed there  and  them  should  instruct  the  others  in  proper  learn- 
ing, now  learning  is  good  en  is  most  necessarij  amongs  the 
haddens  that  cannot  be  contradicted  but  ij  want  to  know  what  de- 
sign as  it  is  to  introduce  their  own  Presbijteren  church  than  can  it 
not  be  allowed  en  as  it  prejudice  our  church  en  church  ceremonies, 
etc. — Doc.  History  of  New  York,  iv.  307. 

Mr.  Keith  writes  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Venerable  Society,  etc., 
that  "if  a  minister  be  not  sent  with  the  first  conveniency,  Presby- 
terian ministers  from  New  England  would  swarm  into  these 
countries  and  prevent  the  increase  of  the  Church. — Episcop.  Ilis- 
tor.  Coll.,  185 1,  p.  xxiii. 


'  See  Letter  of  the  Rev.  Jacob  Oel,  Episcopal  missionary  among 
the  Mohawks,  to  Sir  William  Johnson. 


AT  THE  OPENING   OF  THE  BE  VOLUTION        67 

The  Baptists  already  existed  in  considerable  num- 
bers, having  perhaps  three  hundred  or  more  con- 
gregations. But  they  were  without  organization 
of  any  kind,  without  an  educated  ministry,  their 
preachers  being  small  tradesmen  or  mechanics  and 
the  flocks  consisting  of  the  more  ignorant  and  en- 
thusiastic classes  in  the  middle  and  southern  colo- 
nies. It  is  only  toward  the  close  of  this  period 
and  in  connection  with  the  struggle  for  religious 
liberty  in  Virginia  that  they  make  any  considerable 
figure/ 

The  Methodists  in  England  and  America  still 
made  a  part  of  the  Anglican  Church,  and  through- 
out the  Revolutionary  period  acted  in  sympathy 
with  it.  Mr.  Whitfield,  in  writing  from  America  to 
the  bishop  of  Oxford  and  others,  though  com- 
menting in  very  severe  terms  on  the  character  of 
the  Episcopal  clergy  in  the  colonies,  yet  invariably 
describes  them  as  belonging  to  "our  Church." 
During  the  war  for  independence  they  are  in  no 
way  to  be  distinguished  from  other  Episcopalians. 
In  England,  John  Wesley  at  first  employed  his  pen 
in  defense  of  the  measures  of  Parliament,  and  re- 
produced as  his  own,  without  acknowledgment, 
the  arguments   of   Samuel  Johnson's  Taxation  no 

^  See  Historv  of  the  Baptist  Int'crcst  in  the  i  'nited  States,  by 
the  Rev,  Rufus  Babcock,  D.  D.,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  in  Qjiart. 
J\e;^iste>'  for  184 1. 


68  CONDITION   OF   THE   CHURCH 

Tyranny.^  He  afterwards  changed  his  views,  and 
in  a  letter  to  Lord  North  remonstrated  against  the 
war,  declaring  that  "in  spite  of  all  his  long-rooted 
prejudices  as  a  churchman  and  a  loyalist,  he  cannot 
avoid  thinking,  if  he  think  at  all,  that  the  colonists 
are  an  oppressed  people  asking  nothing  more  than 
their  legal  rights."  He  adds  that  it  is  idle  to  think 
of  conquering  America:  ''Twenty  thousand  British 
troops  could  not  do  it." 

The  Roman  Catholics  were  still  few  in  number 
and  appear  during  this  period  in  no  ecclesiastical 
capacity.  In  1775,  they  had  no  more  than  fifty 
congregations  in  the  colonies,  and  half  that  num- 
ber of  clergy.  Even  in  Maryland  they  constituted 
not  more  than  one-twentieth  part  of  the  popula- 
tion. 

Quakerism  had  been  introduced  into  America 
early  in  the  century,  and  had  caught  with  great 
rapidity.  The  lofty  pretensions  and  bold  "  testify- 
ings "  of  the  early  preachers,  and  the  punishment 
they  brought  upon  themselves  by  their  excesses, 
recommended  their  views  to  the  loose  religious 
radicalism  which  hung  on  the  skirts  of  the  New 

'  Wesley's  Cal//i  Address  to  the  American  Colonies.  The  often - 
sive  sentiments  of  this  address,  and  its  broad  and  subsequently 
confessed  plagiarisms,  exposed  the  author  to  very  severe  criticism. 
See  Dr.  Toplady's  Old  Fox  tarred  and  feathered,  occasioned  hy 
what  is  called  Mr.  John  Wesley'' s  Calm  Address  to  our  American 
colonics. — Toplady's  Works,  v.  441. 


AT  THE  OrENING   OF  THE  BE  VOLUTION        61) 

England  churches.  They  throve  for  a  while  on 
"persecution."  In  the  middle  colonies  the  high 
character  of  the  grantee  of  Pennsylvania,  not  yet 
defaced  by  the  sharp  pens  of  later  critics,  and  the 
pacific  character  and  benevolent  aims  of  his  admin- 
istration, attracted  numerous  adherents.  Quakers 
swarmed  on  both  sides  the  Delaware — disputatious, 
high-flying,  theological  Quakers,  non-combatant  as 
respects  carnal  weapons,  but  ever  ready  for  dialec- 
tical brawl  and  battle.  They  were  already  broken 
up  by  schisms.  George  Keith,  a  busy,  stirring, 
hot-headed  brother,  who  subsequently  conformed 
to  the  Anglican  Church  and  became  an  ultra-zealous 
Episcopal  missionary  in  the  colonies,  had  a  con- 
siderable following  called  Keithian  or  Christian 
Quakers.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Foxonian  or 
Deistical  Quakers,  who  are  described  by  Messrs. 
Keith  and  Talbot  as  "  no  better  than  heathens," 
were  passionately  enthusiastic  for  the  "inner  light" 
and  against  the  authority  of  divine  revelation.  The 
two  factions  were  destroying  each  other;  and  it  is 
worth  noticing  that  of  all  the  sects  extant  in  the 
colonies  in  the  Revolutionary  period,  the  Quakers 
are  the  only  one  that  has  not  thriven;  all  the  others 
have  multiplied  a  thousandfold.  They  alone  have 
dwindled  till  they  are  now  arrived  at  the  verge  of 
extinction.  As  concerns  the  Revolutionary  struggle, 
a  few  "Deistical  Quakers,"  like  Benjamin  Franklin, 


70  CONDITIOX  OF   THE   CHURCH 

acted  an  influential  part,  but  as  a  sect  they  had 
neither  part  nor  lot  in  the  matter. 

When  we  speak  of  the  Christian  Church  in  connec- 
tion with  the  struggle  for  independence,  we  have 
occasion,  therefore,  to  notice  only  Presbyterianism 
and  Episcopacy;  always  remembering  that  that  im- 
perfect form  of  Presbyterianism  called  Congrega- 
tionalism existed  exclusively  in  New  England. 

As  introductory  to  the  history  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  during  the  Revolutionary  period,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  consider  briefly  its  condition  at  the  opening  of 
the  scene.  In  all  the  provinces  south  of  and  includ- 
ing New  York,  except  Pennsylvania,  the  Episcopal 
Church  was  either  expressly  established  by  law  or 
at  least  peculiarly  favored  by  the  colonial  govern- 
ments. Episcopal  churches  and  parsonages  were 
built  by  the  aid  of  the  royal  governors,  and  often 
by  public  tax.  The  clergy  were  salaried  by  assess- 
ments on  the  property  of  the  citizens  at  large. 
Their  stipends  were  fixed  by  law,  and  were  col- 
lected, where  it  was  necessary  (and  practicable), 
by  execution  and  distress. 

In  New  York  the  profligate  Lord  Cornbury— 
bankrupt  in  character  and  fortune— was  a  zealous 
friend  of  "the  present  happy  establishment  in 
Church   and   State."  ^     In  New  Jersey,   by  one  of 

^  See  letter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Auchmuty  to  Sir  William  Johnson 
of  date  20th  May,  1770. 


AT  THE   UFEMSG   OF  THE  REVOLUTION        71 

those  retributions  which  often  attend  unhallowed 
love,  the  natural  son  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  the  last 
royal  governor  of  the  province,  was  a  bitter  enemy  of 
both  the  political  and  religious  liberty  for  which  his 
father  contended.  Maryland,  originally  a  Roman 
Catholic  proprietary  grant,  was  organized  ecclesi- 
astically as  a  branch  of  the  Church  of  England,  con- 
taining in  1775  about  twenty  parishes.  In  Virginia, 
where  the  union  of  Church  and  State  was  closest, 
the  clergy  were  ''presented"  to  their  "livings"  by 
the  governor,  and  the  value  of  the  benefice  was 
calculated,  as  also  in  Maryland,  in  the  great  staple 
of  the  province.  The  salary  was  settled  by  act  of 
legislature  in  1721  at  16,000  pounds  of  tobacco,  or  a 
cash  equivalent  of  eighteen  shillings  the  hundred 
pounds.^  To  every  parsonage  was  attached  a  glebe 
of  not  less  than  200  acres.  In  fact,  the  "ancient 
dominion  "  exhibited  nearly  as  perfect  an  example 
of  a  Church-and-State  establishment  as  the  mother- 
country  itself.  Virginia  was  simply  a  cis-Atlantic 
magnified  Hampshire  or  Bucks,  where  the  clergy 
and  the  squirearchy  held  carnival  and  royal  gov- 
ernors made  it  their  ambition  to  be  nursing-fathers 
to  "the  Church." 

'  In  Maryland  the  salary  was,  in  some  cases,  much  larger, 
amounting  to  thirty,  and  even  forty,  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco. 
The  cash  value  of  the  salaries  was  from  £50  to  £80  colonial  cur- 
rency, which  was  depreciated  in  the  various  colonies  from  twenty- 
five  to  fifty  per  cent  below  sterling  value. 


72  CONDITION  OF   THE   CHURCH 

The  parish  ministers  came  from  England,  and 
were  mostly  such  as  England  could  well  afford  to 
spare.  The  ''  Venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  chartered  in  1701, 
exerted  itself  to  send  out  chaplains  and  missionaries, 
but  the  name  of  the  society  represented  a  sentiment 
which  was  then  only  feebly  nascent  in  England. 
The  funds  were  small  and  the  candidates  few. 
Rather  than  send  none,  the  society  sent  such  as 
they  could  get;  and  what  these  were  the  complaints 
and  remonstrances  from  the  colonies  too  clearly 
indicate.  "Many  of  them,"  observes  Dr.  Hawks, 
"  were  every  way  unfitted  for  their  stations.  The 
precariousness  of  the  tenure  by  which  they  held 
their  livings  contributed  not  a  little  to  beget  in  them 
an  indifference  to  their  duties,  and  the  irregularities 
and  crimes  of  an  unworthy  clergyman  could  not  be 
visited  effectually  with  the  severities  of  ecclesiastical 
censure.  Far  removed  from  his  diocesan,  and  stand- 
ing in  little  awe  of  the  authorities  of  the  Episcopal 
commissary,  he  sometimes  offended  religion  and 
morals  with  impunity,  and  still  remained  in  the 
Church,  a  reproach  to  her  ministry."  ^ 

'  Contributions  to  Ecclesiastical  History,  etc.,  pp.  88,  89, 
Mr.  Whitefield  wrote  to  the  "Venerable  Society,"  etc.,  under 
date  of  November  30,  1740 :  "  The  state  of  the  Church  of  En.ij- 
land  in  America  is  at  a  very  low  ebb,  and  will  in  all  probability  be 
much  worse — nay,  at  last  dwindled  into  nothing — unless  care  be 
taken   to   send   over   missionaries  that  are  better  qualified  for  the 


AT  THE  OPENING   OF  THE  BE  VOLUTION        73 

"In  numerous  instances,"  observes  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Babcock,  "  we  have  heard  from  the  Hps  of  old  men 
lamentable  descriptions  of  the  immoral  and  prof- 
ligate lives  of  their  former  rectors.  Two  or  three 
days  in  each  week  during  the  season  the  parson 
spent  in  fox-hunting  with  his  irreligious  parishion- 
ers, and  the  hunt  closed  with  bacchanalian  orgies 
in  which  he  usually  bore  the  leading  part.  We 
have  seen  a  manuscript  volume  of  poetry  composed 
by  one  of  these  Virginia  shepherds  that  for  amatory 
levity  would  have  raised  a  blush  on  the  cheeks  of 
Horace.'  Many  came  over,  such  as  wore  black 
coats  and  could  babble  in  a  pulpit,  roar  in  a  tavern, 
exact  from  their  parishioners,  and  by  their  dissolute 


pastoral  office.  It  is  too  evident  that  most  of  them  are  corrupt  in 
their  principles  and  immoral  in  their  practices,  and  many  of  them 
such  as  could  not  stand  their  trials  amongst  the  Dissenters  or  were 
discarded  by  them  for  their  profaneness  and  irregularities.  Our 
Church  seems  to  be  their  last  refuge,"  etc. — Episcopal  Historical 
Collection y  185 1,  p.  129. 

Colonel  Heathcote  takes  a  more  cheerful  view  of  the  society's 
influence,  so  far,  at  least,  as  Connecticut  was  concerned.  "  I  really 
believe,"  he  observes,  "  that  more  than  half  the  people  in  that  gov- 
ernment think  our  Church  to  be  little  better  than  the  Papist.  But 
— I  bless  God  for  it — the  society  has  robbed  them  of  their  best 
argument,  which  was  the  ill  lives  of  our  clergy  that  came  into  these 
parts,  and  the  truth  is  I  have  not  seen  many  good  men  but  of  the 
society's  sending." — Doc.  History  of  Nno  York,  iv.  122. 

But  Mr.  Whitefield  calls  even  the  society's  missionaries  "  ungodly 
despicable  ministers." 

'  See  American  Quarterly  Register,  1 84 1. 


74  CONDITION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

lives  destroy  rather  than  feed  their  flocks."'  A 
great  writer,  who  in  statements  of  fact  is  as  true  to 
history  as  in  his  portraitures  of  character  he  is  true 
to  nature,  observes:  "Unlike  some  of  the  neigh- 
boring provinces,  Virginia  was  a  Church  of  England 
colony.  The  clergymen  were  paid  by  the  State  and 
had  glebes  allotted  to  them;  and  there  being  no 
Church  of  England  bishop  yet  in  America,  the 
colonists  were  obliged  to  import  their  divines  from 
the  mother  country.  Such  as  came  were  not  natu- 
rally of  the  very  best  or  most  eloquent  kind  of  pastors. 
Noblemen's  hangers-on,  insolvent  parsons  who  had 
quarreled  with  justice  or  the  bailiff,  brought  their 
stained  cassocks  into  the  colony  in  the  hopes  of  find- 
ing a  living."  ^  The  condition  of  things  was  equally 
bad  in  Maryland,  where  Mr.  Bancroft  says,  **  Ruffians, 
fugitives  from  justice,  men  stained  by  intemperance 
and  lust,  dishonored  the  surplices  they  wore."' 

Presbyterians,  even  in  those  colonies  or  parts  of 
colonies  where  they  composed  the  great  majority, 
were  ''dissenters,"  enjoying  a  precarious  toleration. 
They  could  preach  only  by  special  license  and  in 
licensed  meetinghouses.  Nothing  was  more  com- 
mon than  for  them  to  be  called  before  justices  or 

^  Dr.  Hawks'  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Virginia,  p,  65,  quoted 
from  a  contemporaneous  writer. 

2  The  Virgijiians,  by  W,  M.  Thackeray,  chapter  v. 

3  Bancroft's  History,  iv.  129. 


AT   THE   Ol'KMXa    OF   THE   REVOLUTION        75 

governors  and  threatened  or  fined  for  illegally 
preaching  the  gospel.  Such  was  the  treatment  that 
Francis  Makemie,  George  Hampton  and  John 
McNish  met  with  in  the  early  part  of  the  century; 
and  down  to  the  Revolution  the  experiences  of  the 
Presbyterian  clergy  were  often  of  the  same  sort, 
in  1618  a  law  was  passed  in  Virginia  which  enacted 
that  every  person  "  should  go  to  church  on  Sundays 
and  holidays,  or  lye  neck  and  heels  that  night  and 
be  a  slave  to  the  colony  the  following  day."  For 
the  second  offense  he  was  to  be  a  slave  a  week  and 
the  third  a  year.  In  1642  a  law  was  passed  that 
"  no  minister  should  be  permitted  to  officiate  in  the 
country  but  such  as  shall  produce  to  the  governor  a 
testimonial  that  he  hath  received  ordination  from 
some  bishop  in  England,  and  shall  then  subscribe 
to  be  conformable  to  the  orders  and  constitutions  of 
the  Church  of  England;  and  if  any  other  person  pre- 
tending himself  to  be  a  minister  shall,  contrary  to 
this  act,  presume  to  teach  or  preach  publicly  or 
privately,  the  governor  and  council  are  hereby  de- 
sired and  empowered  to  suspend  and  silence  the 
person  so  offending,  and  upon  his  obstinate  persist- 
ence to  compel  him  to  depart  the  country  with  the 
first  convenience.  Several  of  these  laws  were 
afterwards  repealed  or  the  penalties  mitigated,  but 
they  remained  severe  until  the  Revolution."^ 

1  Dr.  Miller's  Life  of  Dr.  John  Rodgers,  p.  28. 


76  CONDITION  OF   THE   CHURCH 

It  was  quite  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  there- 
fore, that  when  the  struggle  broke  out  between 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  the  Episcopal  and  the 
Presbyterian  clergy  should  take  different  sides. 
The  former  were  entirely  satisfied  with  the  existing 
order  and  had  nothing  to  gain  by  a  change.  They 
were,  of  course,  the  friends  of  a  government  which 
favored  them,  which  gave  them  peculiar  privileges, 
among  others  the  privilege  of  looking  down  on  and 
harassing  all  other  Christians  as  dissenters.  Their 
own  instincts  all  tended  the  same  way.  They  were 
English  born  or  had  been  educated  and  ordained  in 
England.  They  owed  ecclesiastical  allegiance  to 
the  English  episcopate,  or  at  near  hand  to  the  resi- 
dent commissary  of  the  bishop  of  London.  The 
spiritual  peers  and  the  clergy  "  at  home"  all  lent  a 
zealous  support  to  the  measures  of  the  Parliament 
for  coercing  the  colonies.  It  was  too  much  to  ex- 
pect that  the  Episcopal  clergy  here  should  separate 
themselves  from  the  body  to  which  they  belonged. 
They  simply  stuck  to  the  principles  of  loyalty  and 
allegiance  that  were  natural  to  them  in  the  circum- 
stances. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Inglis,  rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
New  York,  writing  to  the  secretary  of  the  "  Ven- 
erable Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel " 
in  1776,  says,  "I  have  the  pleasure  to  assure  you 
that  all  the  society's  missionaries,  without  excepting 


AT  THE   OPENING    OF   THE  BE  VOLUTION        77 

one  in  New  Jersey,  New  York,  Connecticut,  and  so 
far  as  I  can  learn  in  all  the  New  England  colonies, 
have  proved  themselves  loyal  and  faithful  subjects 
in  these  trying  times,  and  have  to  the  utmost  of 
their  power  opposed  the  spirit  of  disaffection.  I 
must  add  that  all  the  olher  clergy  of  our  Church  in 
the  above-named  colonies  have  observed  the  same 
line  of  conduct;  and  although  their  joint  endeavors 
could  not  wholly  prevent  the  rebellion,  yet  they 
checked  it  considerably  for  some  time,  and  pre- 
vented many  thousands  from  plunging  into  it." 

He  adds  that  very  few  of  the  la/ty  who  had 
either  property  or  character  joined  in  the  rebellion. 

This  latter  assertion  had  many  and  signal  excep- 
tions, or  rather  outside  of  New  York  and  Connecti- 
cut had  very  little  basis  of  fact.  But  the  Episcopal 
clergy,  at  least  in  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, found  themselves  in  broad  and  bitter  antag- 
onism with  the  spirit  and  views  of  the  people. 
They  could  not  reconcile  themselves  to  read  the 
service  leaving  out  the  prayers  for  the  king,  nor 
could  they  read  them  without  subjecting  themselves 
to  interruptions,  threats  and  a  possible  experience 
of  tar  and  feathers.  They  took  the  safe  course  of 
demitting  their  functions,  and  shook  off  the  dust 
from  their  feet  as  a  testimony  against  their  rebellious 
parishioners. 

The  Episcopal  Church,  therefore,  which  one  hun- 


78  CONDITION  OF  THE   CHURCH 

dred  years  ago  numbered  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  clergy  of  all  sorts  (except  bishops),  suddenly 
and  universally  disappeared.  The  temples  were 
left,  but  the  priests  had  departed.  After  the  melan- 
choly extinguishment  of  Mr.  Duche,  not  one  of 
them,  with  the  exception  of  Dr.  White,  officiated  as 
chaplain  in  Congress,  and  only  Dr.  Griffith  and  two 
or  three  more  as  chaplains  in  the  army — a  neglect 
with  which  it  has  been  impossible  to  charge  the 
Episcopal  clergy  in  any  period  since.  A  few  reso- 
lute parsons,  like  Mr.  Beach  in  Connecticut  and  Dr. 
Inglis  in  New  York,  continued  a  while  longer  to 
pray  for  the  king.  Perhaps  Dr.  Inglis  himself  read 
the  last  collect  for  King  George  that  was  ever  of- 
fered after  the  colonies  developed  into  States.  That 
distinguished  and  justly  honored  minister  and 
(later)  prelate,  William  White,  states  that  he  read 
the  prayer  for  the  king  the  last  time  on  the  Sunday 
preceding  the  4th  of  July,  1776. 

So  it  resulted  that  the  Established  Church  and  the 
colonial  officials  were  on  one  side,  and  the  American 
People  on  the  other;  just  as,  a  few  years  later,  it 
came  to  pass  in  France  that  the  nation  found  itself 
struggling  for  freedom  against  the  noblesse  and  the 
clergy. 

Whatever  may  have  been  true  in  the  history  of 
earlier  struggles  between  prerogative  and  liberty  in 
England,  it  is  quite  unnecessary  to  claim  that  there 


AT  THE   OPENING   OF  THE  REVOLUTION        79 

is  any  natural  relationship  between  Episcopacy  and 
monarchy,  or  any  vital  repugnance  between  it  and 
popular  institutions.  It  is  even  maintained  by  dis- 
tinguished writers  of  that  persuasion  that  there  is  a 
singularly  close  analogy  between  the  constitution  of 
their  Church  and  the  political  Constitution  of  this 
country.  Certainly  no  one  will  pretend  that  since 
the  establishment  of  independence  there  have  been 
any  purer  patriots  or  stauncher  friends  of  liberty 
than  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 
It  is  with  no  disposition,  therefore,  to  cast  reproach 
upon  that  large  and  intelligent  Christian  body,  but 
simply  because  the  truth  of  history  requires  it,  that 
the  fact  is  stated  of  the  nearly  universal  as  well  as 
very  bitter  Toryism  of  the  Episcopal  clergy  during 
the  Revolutionary  period.  They  continually  wrote 
to  England  maligning  the  characters  and  ridiculing 
the  efforts  of  the  patriot  leaders.  They  encouraged 
the  ministry  with  assurances  of  certain  and  not  dis- 
tant success ;  ^  when  the  appeal  was  made  "  to  arms 
and  to  the  God  of  battles,"  they  withdrew  into  ob- 
scurity, fled  to  Nova  Scotia  or  returned  to  England. 
We  have  all,  perhaps,  seen  a  coarse  engraving 
purporting  to  represent  the  offering  of  "the  first 

i"I  have  not  a  doubt"  (wrote  Dr.  Inglis  in  1776)  "but  with 
the  blessing  of  Providence  His  Majesty's  arms  will  be  successful 
and  finally  crush  this  unnatural  rebellion," — Doc.  Hist,  of  N^ew 
Yorky  iii,  1064. 


80  CONDITION  OF  THE  CHURCH 

prayer  in  Congress."  The  rotund  and  florid  offi- 
ciating chaplain  in  the  front,  clad  in  surplice,  is  the 
Rev.  Jacob  Duche,  described  by  one  of  his  brethren 
at  the  time  as  a  "most  amiable  youth,  of  capti- 
vating eloquence." 

The  implication  of  the  picture  would  seem  to  be 
that  it  was  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  person  of 
this  patriotic  and  captivating  "churchman"  which 
pronounced  her  benediction  on  the  opening 
struggle.^ 

The  Rev.  Jacob  Duche  was  by  birth  a  Philadel- 
phian.  His  grandfather  Anthony,  a  French  refugee, 
had  acquired  property  here,  and  on  some  occasion 
lent  William  Penn  a  little  money.  Thirty  pounds 
of  this  remained  unpaid.  Penn  offered  Mr.  Duche 
in  satisfaction  the  entire  square  lying  between 
Market  and  Arch  and  Third  and  Fourth  streets, 
which  he  declined. 

Jacob  grew  up  a  promising  boy,  and  was  sent 
to  England  to  perfect  his  education.  He  studied  at 
the  University  of  Cambridge,  in  due  time  received 
Episcopal  ordination,  returned  home,  and  about 
1770  became  rector  of  Christ's  Church,  Philadelphia. 

In  the  Congress  of   1776,  on  the  nomination  of 

'  On  the  celebration  in  Carpenters'  Hall,  Philadelphia,  of  the 
centenary  of  the  First  Congress,  the  portrait  of  Mr.  Duche  occupied 
a  conspicuous  position  over  the  head  of  the  chairman — with  how 
little  fitness  the  story  here  recited  shows. 


AT   THE   OPENING    OF   THE  REVOLUTION        81 

Samuel  Adams,  he  was  elected  chaplain.  He  had 
previously  acted  in  that  capacity  for  the  Continental 
Congress  the  year  before;  and  now,  robed  in  full 
canonicals,  he  came  forward  to  offer  the  first  prayer 
after  the  Declaration  of  independence.  The  singu- 
larly appropriate  lesson  for  the  morning  was  the 
thirty-fifth  Psalm:  "  Plead  thou  my  cause,  O  Lord, 
with  them  that  strive  with  me,  and  fight  thou  with 
them  that  fight  against  me.  Awake,  and  stand  up 
to  judge  my  quarrel;  avenge  thou  my  cause,  my 
God  and  my  Lord.'' 

Having  finished  the  lesson,  the  chaplain  laid  aside 
the  prayer  book,  and  stretching  forth  his  arms 
broke  out  with  great  fervor  of  manner  in  the  recita- 
tion of  a  highly-appropriate  precomposed  prayer: 
"  Look  down  in  mercy,  we  beseech  thee  (he  prayed), 
on  these  our  American  States,  who  have  fled  from 
the  rod  of  the  oppressor  and  thrown  themselves  on 
thy  gracious  protection.  Give  them  wisdom  in 
council  and  valor  in  the  field  ;  defeat  the  malicious 
designs  of  our  cruel  adversaries.  Oh,  let  the  voice 
of  thine  unerring  justice,  sounding  in  their  hearts, 
constrain  them  to  drop  the  weapons  of  war  from 
their  unnerved  hands  in  the  day  of  battle.'' 

This  glow  of  patriotic  enthusiasm  lasted  for  three 
months.  Within  that  time  New  York  was  occupied 
and  Philadelphia  threatened  by  the  British.  Mr. 
Duche's  faith,  which  apparently  had  in  it  little  of 


82  CONDITION  OF  THE   CHURCH 

the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  began  to  waver. 
He  resigned  his  chaplaincy  and  withdrew  into  tem- 
porary obscurity.  The  following  year  the  disasters 
of  the  patriot  arms  increased.  Lord  Howe  defeated 
the  insurgents  at  the  Brandywine  and  occupied 
Philadelphia.  Then  Mr.  Duche  once  more  came 
forth  upon  the  scene.  Providence  was  evidently 
frowning  on  the  rebel  cause;  and  far  be  it  from  Mr. 
Duche  that  he  should  be  found  fighting  against 
God!  He  hastened  to  renounce  his  rebellion  and 
''throw  himself  on  the  gracious  protection"  of 
Lord  Howe.  All  this  might  easily  have  been  for- 
gotten; but  with  a  bold  stroke  for  immortality,  he 
had  the  sublime  impudence  to  write  to  General 
Washington  urging  him  to  pursue  a  similar  course. 
He  alleges  that  the  cause  of  the  revolted  colonies 
was  as  hopeless  as  it  was  godless,  represents  the 
army,  both  officers  and  men,  as  a  vulgar  and  undis- 
ciplined rabble,  and  recommends  Washington  to 
disperse  Congress  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 
Having  thus  given  the  highest  possible  evidence  of 
recovered  loyalty,  Mr.  Duche  sailed  for  England. 
Washington  laid  the  insulting  letter  before  Congress 
and  directed  the  bearer  to  inform  Mr.  Duche  that  if 
he  had  had  any  idea  of  its  nature  he  should  have  re- 
turned it  unopened. 

I  feel  no  hesitation  in  making  this  commentary  on 
the  pictorial  fraud  referred  to,  since  this  frivolous 


AT  THE   OPENING    OF   THE   REVoLUTIOX        83 

renegade  will  be  dismissed  witii  equal  contempt  by 
the  Church  he  dishonored  as  by  Christians  of  every 
other  denomination. 


II 

THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH    AND   THE   WAR   OF 
INDEPENDENCE 

The  course  of  the  Presbyterian  clergy,  both  dur- 
ing the  war  and  throughout  the  whole  series  of 
events  leading  to  it,  is  so  broadly  written  on  the 
pages  of  history  that  did  it  not  seem  to  make  a 
necessary  part  of  a  story  like  this  I  should  content 
myself  with  barely  alluding  to  it.  It  was  exactly 
seventy  years  before,  that  their  first  presbytery  had 
been  organized  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  with 
only  seven  ministers.  During  this  period  of 
"Babylonian  captivity,"  discouraged  as  they  had 
continually  been  by  the  royal  governors,  fined  and 
shut  up  in  jail  under  pretext  of  their  preaching 
without  a  license,  their  churches  wrested  from  them, 
their  congregations  doubly  taxed  to  sustain  their 
own  clergy  and  those  of  the  Episcopal  Church  also, 
— they  had  yet  multiplied  to  about  one  hundred 
ministers  and  twice  that  number  of  congregations. 
At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  War  they 


84  TEE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

were  distributed  into  eleven  presbyteries.  The 
presbyteries  of  New  York,  Dutchess  and  Suffolk, 
with  about  thirty  ministers,  were  mostly  in  New 
York.  New  Brunswick,  with  nine  ministers,  in 
New  Jersey.  The  First  and  Second  Philadelphia 
and  Lewes,  with  twenty  members,  in  Pennsylvania. 
New  Castle,  with  eight  ministers,  and  Donegal, 
with  thirteen,  were  in  Delaware  and  Maryland, 
Hanover  in  Virginia,  with  perhaps  twelve  ministers, 
and  Orange,  with  fifteen,  in  North  Carolina.  With 
absolute  unanimity  these  pastors  and  their  people 
committed  themselves  to  the  doubtful  and  desperate 
struggle  for  independence.  Heterogeneous  as  they 
were  in  origin — part  New  England  Congregational- 
ists,  part  Dutchmen  of  New  Amsterdam,  part 
Scotch-Irish,  part  Huguenots,  part  Highlanders,  ex- 
iles of  "the  '4S  " — the  common  element  of  a  Pres- 
byterian polity  and  a  Calvinistic  theology  fused 
them  into  one  patriotic  mass,  glowing  with  an  in- 
tense passion  for  civil  and  religious  liberty.  They 
openly  took  the  attitude,  and  consented  to  the  name 
and  the  responsibility,  of  rebels  against  the  British 
government. 

It  was  no  doubt  a  zeal  for  religious,  quite  as 
much  as  for  political  liberty,  that  impelled  them 
into  this  position — a  sentiment  that  did  not  operate 
with  equal  force  in  New  England,  where  the  Con- 
gregationalists,    instead  of  suffering  as  dissenters. 


AND   THE    WAR   OF  INDEPENDENCE  85 

were  themselves  an  established  Church,  able  and 
not  wholly  indisposed  to  lay  a  heavy  hand  on  other 
denominations. 

Dr.  Inglis  says,  "Although  civil  liberty  was  the 
ostensible  object,  the  bait  that  was  flung  out  to  catch 
the  populace  at  large  and  engage  them  in  the  rebel- 
lion, yet  it  is  now  past  all  doubt  that  an  abolition  of 
the  Church  of  England  was  one  of  the  principal 
ends  aimed  at,  and  hence  the  unanimity  of  the  dis- 
senters in  this  business.  I  have  it  from  good  au- 
thority that  the  Presbyterian  ministers,  at  a  synod 
where  most  of  them  in  the  middle  colonies  were 
collected,  passed  a  resolve  to  support  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  in  all  their  measures.  This,  and 
this  only,  can  account  for  the  uniformity  of  their 
conduct,  for  /  do  not  know  one  of  them,  nor  have  1 
been  able,  after  strict  inquiry,  to  hear  of  any,  who 
did  not  by  preaching  and  every  effort  in  their 
power  promote  all  the  measures  of  the  Congress, 
however  extravagant."  ' 

It  was  not,  however,  by  any  passionate  impulse, 
or  by  any  fraudulent  representation  of  their  leaders, 
that  they  were  brought  into  an  attitude  so  much  at 
variance  with  all  their  principles  as  Christians  and 
all  their  instincts  as  subjects.  The  spirit  of  the 
Presbyterian    Church,    like   that   of  the   Episcopal, 

'  State  of  the  Anglo- Anierica)i  Church  in  1776,  by  the  Rev. 
Charles  IngUs,  Doc.  Hist.  0/  N'ew  York,  iv,  1048. 


86  THE  PRESBYTERIA:^   CHURCH 

though  perhaps  in  a  somewhat  less  intense  degree, 
is  conservative.  Comprehending  in  its  clergy  a  body 
of  educated  as  well  as  profoundly  religious  men, 
and  in  its  membership  mostly  the  upper  and  middle 
classes,  containing  few  poor  and  none  ignorant, 
with  a  large  stake,  therefore,  in  the  stability  of 
society, — the  Presbyterian  Church  is  necessarily 
pledged  to  order,  loyalty  and  the  maintenance  of 
existing  institutions.  Presbyterianism  has  always 
been  in  quick  sympathy  with  constitutional  govern- 
ment, but  is  by  no  necessity  hostile  to  monarchy. 
If  at  one  time,  while  fighting  the  battle  of  English 
liberties,  it  was  found  in  deadly  and  fatal  collision 
with  the  sovereign,  it  was  also  found,  in  its  recoil 
from  anarchy,  forward  in  rebuilding  the  throne.  It 
was  the  English  Presbyterians  who  joined  with  the 
army  to  bring  about  the  Restoration;  and  they  are 
not  otherwise  to  be  blamed  for  the  consequences 
than  as  men  may  be  blamed  who  fly  from  petty 
tyrants  to  the  throne,  and  in  their  zeal  for  order  are 
too  little  on  their  guard  against  treachery.  They 
bound  the  king,  so  far  as  oaths  could  bind  so  ''uni- 
versal a  villain,"  to  the  cause  of  religion  and  right- 
eousness. They  were,  of  course,  betrayed;  but  it 
has  taken  several  generations  since  to  bring  the 
world  to  a  complete  realization  of  the  bottomless 
folly  and  faithlessness  of  the  house  of  Stuart. 
The  Presbyterians  of  the  American  colonies  were 


AND   THE    WAR   OF  INDEPENDENCE  87 

imbued  with  a  spirit  of  intense  loyalty  to  the  British 
government.  In  no  part  of  the  empire  was  there  a 
more  enthusiastic  reverence  for  the  throne.  The 
provincials  gloried  in  the  title  and  claimed  the 
rights  of  British  subjects.  They  detested  the  brutal 
radicalism  of  John  Wilkes  and  the  English  mob.  In 
the  admirable  pastoral  letter  addressed  to  the 
churches  by  the  synod  of  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia on  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities  they  say: 
"In  carrying  on  this  important  struggle  let  every 
opportunity  be  taken  to  express  your  attachment 
and  respect  to  our  sovereign  King  George  and  to 
the  revolution  principles  by  which  his  august  family 
was  seated  on  the  British  throne.  We  recommend, 
indeed,  not  only  allegiance  to  him  from  duty  and 
principle,  as  the  first  magistrate  of  the  empire,  but 
esteem  and  reverence  for  the  person  of  the  prince 
who  has  merited  well  of  his  subjects  on  many  ac- 
counts, and  who  has  probably  been  misled  into  the 
late  and  the  present  measures  by  those  about  him. 
It  gives  us  the  greatest  pleasure  to  say,  from  our 
own  certain  knowledge  of  all  belonging  to  our 
communion,  that  the  present  opposition  to  the 
measures  of  the  ministry  does  not  in  the  least  arise 
from  disaffection  to  the  king  or  a  desire  of  separa- 
tion from  the  parent  state.  We  are  happy  in  being 
able  with  truth  to  affirm,  that  no  part  of  America 
would  either  have  approved  or  permitted  such  in- 


88  THE  PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

suits  as  have  been  offered  to  the  sovereign  in  Great 
Britain.  We  expect  you,  therefore,  to  continue  in 
the  same  disposition  and  not  to  suffer  oppression  or 
injury  itself  to  provoke  you  into  anything  which 
may  seem  to  betray  contrary  sentiments.  Let  it 
ever  appear  that  you  only  desire  the  preservation 
and  security  of  those  rights  which  belong  to  you  as 
freemen  and  Britons,  and  that  reconciliation  upon 
these  terms  is  your  most  ardent  desire."^ 

This  was  in  May,  1775,  a  month  after  the 
slaughter  at  Lexington  and  the  disastrous  retreat 
of  the  British  troops  upon  Boston. 

This  sentiment  of  affection  for  the  person  of  the 
sovereign  V'/as  with  great  difficulty  rooted  out  from 
the  hearts  of  the  colonists.  They  wept  with  at 
least  conventional  tears  the  death  of  George  11  and 
hailed  with  enthusiastic  hopes  the  accession  of  his 
grandson  to  the  throne. 

That  brilliant  and  too  brief  light  of  the  American 
pulpit — the  Doctor  Seraphicns  of  the  colonial  min- 
istry— Samuel  Davies,  in  his  sermon  on  the  death 
of  that  profligate  Hanoverian  prince.  George  II, 
broke  out  into  such  strains  as  these: — 

"George  is  no  more!  George  the  mighty,  the 
just,  the  gentle,  the  wise,  George  the  father  of 
Britain  and  her  colonies,  the  guardian  of  laws  and 
liberty,  the  protector  of  the  oppressed,  the  arbiter 

*  See  Minutes  of  the  Synod,  p.  468. 


AND    THE    WAR    OF  IN  DEPENDENCE  .sj) 

of  Europe,  the  terror  of  tyrants  and  of  France! 
George,  the  friend  of  man,  the  benefactor  of  mil- 
lions, is  no  more.  Britain  expresses  her  sorrow  in 
national  groans.  Europe  reechoes  to  the  melancholy 
sound.  This  remote  American  continent  shares 
in  the  loyal  sympathy.  The  wide  intermediate  At- 
lantic rolls  the  tide  of  grief  to  these  distant  shores." 
And  after  pages  more  in  Xh.\s  maestoso  vein  \.\\q  sXxAxn 
changes  to  a  joyful  allegro  as  Mr.  Davies  turns  to 
hail  the  newly-risen  star  of  British  monarchy. 
''But  I  retract  the  melancholy  thought  (he  says). 
George  still  lives,  he  still  adorns  his  throne,  he  still 
blesses  the  world  in  the  person  of  his  royal  de- 
scendant and  successor;  and  if  the  early  appearance 
of  genius,  humanity,  condescension,  the  spirit  of 
liberty  and  love  of  his  people,  if  British  birth,  edu- 
cation and  connections,  if  the  wishes  and  prayers 
of  every  lover  of  his  country,  have  any  efficacy, 
George  the  Third  will  reign  like  George  the  Second. 
Hail,  desponding  religion!  lift  up  thy  drooping 
head  and  triumph.  Virtue,  thou  heaven-born  exile, 
return  to  court!  Young  George  invites  thee. 
George  declares  himself  thy  early  friend  and  patron. 
Vice,  thou  triumphant  monster,  with  all  thy  in- 
fernal train,  retire,  abscond  and  fly  to  thy  native 
hell!  Young  George  forbids  thee  to  appear  at 
court,  in  the  army,  the  navy  or  any  of  thy  usual 
haunts.     What  happy  days  are  before  us  when  Re- 


90  TRE  rilESBlTERlAN   CHURCH 

LiGiON  and  George  shall  reign!  "  And  then,  soaring 
on  the  wings  of  Virgil's  prophetic  muse  and  con- 
templating the  coming  Saturnia  regna,  he  ex- 
claimed, "Such  a  presage  renders  the  blessings  we 
shall  receive  under  the  reign  of  George  the  Third 
almost  as  sure  as  those  we  have  received  under  that 
of  George  the  Second."  This  (may  1  reverently 
add)  he  spoke  not  of  himself,  but  being  a  prophet 
he  foresaw  obscurely  the  benefits  which  the  pa- 
triotic and  conscientious  stubbornness  of  the 
sovereign  would  be  the  means  of  conferring  on  the 
colonists;  for  surely,  if  the  prophetic  charisma  has 
ever  lighted  on  any  of  the  sons  of  men  since  the 
days  of  the  apostles,  it  was  upon  him  who,  twenty 
years  before  Braddock's  only  surviving  aid  was 
called  to  the  command  of  the  American  armies, 
spoke  of  "that  heroic  youth,  Colonel  Washington, 
whom  Providence  seems  to  have  preserved  in  so 
signal  a  manner  for  some  important  service  to  his 
country." ' 

Let  us  think  kindly  of  that  narrow-minded,  ob- 
stinate, devout,  exemplary  man  and  king  whom 
our  fathers  were  reluctantly  forced  to  defy  and  dis- 
own. His  reign  signalized  the  era  of  decency  in 
the    British    court   which   has   broadened   into  the 

'  Religioh  and  Patriotism  the  Constituents  of  a  good  Soldier,  a 
sermon  preached  to  Captain  Overton's  independent  company  of 
volunteers,  raised  in   Hanover  County,  Virginia,  August  17,  1755- 


ANJJ   THE    WAR   OF  INDEFENDENCE  91 

high-toned  morality  of  the  present  reign.  "The 
improvement  in  public  morals  at  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century,"  observes  Lord  Campbell,  "may 
mainly  be  ascribed  to  George  the  Third  and  his 
queen,  who  not  only  by  their  bright  example  but 
by  their  well-directed  efforts  greatly  discouraged 
the  profligacy  which  was  introduced  at  the  Restor- 
ation, and  which  continued  with  little  abatement 
till  their  time."^ 

"O  brothers  speaking  the  same  dear  mother- 
tongue,"  said  that  beautiful  genius  who  recited  here 
in  our  own  ears  with  such  unshrinking  fidelity  the 
story  of  the  "Four  Georges,"  "O  comrades,  ene- 
mies no  more,  let  us  clasp  a  mournful  hand  as  we 
stand  by  this  royal  corpse  and  call  a  truce  to  battle. 
Low  he  lies  to  whom  the  proudest  used  once  to 
kneel,  and  who  was  cast  lower  than  the  poorest. 
Dead — whom  millions  prayed  for  in  vain!  Driven 
off  his  throne,  buffeted  by  rude  hands,  his  children 
in  revolt,  the  darling  of  his  age,  his  Cordelia,  killed 
untimely  before  him.  Hush,  strife  and  quarrel,  over 
the  solemn  grave!  Sound,  trumpets,  a  mournful 
march!  Fall,  dark  curtain,  upon  his  pageant,  his 
pride,  his  grief,  his  awful  tragedy!  " 

Even  down  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
through  all  the  agitations,  alarms  and  bloodshedding 

'Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors,  vii,  1S2,  American 
edition. 


92  THE  PUESBYTEBIAN  CHURCH 

of  the  opening  scenes  of  the  great  drama,  and  while 
engaged  in  deadly  opposition  to  the  British  Parlia- 
ment, the  Presbyterian  clergy  continued  to  pray  for 
the  king  and  royal  family.  The  explanation  of  this 
seeming  anomaly  is  found  in  the  very  diverse  views 
of  constitutional  allegiance  entertained  by  the 
Americans  toward  the  two  parts  of  the  British 
government.  Not  merely  did  they  labor  under  the 
somewhat  mistaken  impression  that  George  the 
Third  was  kindly  disposed  toward  them,  and  was 
dragged  reluctantly  by  popular  enthusiasm  into 
sanctioning  the  abitrary  measures  against  their 
liberties,  but  they  also  made  a  wide  difference  be- 
tween the  claims  which  the  king  and  the  Parliament 
had  on  their  allegiance.  The  colonists  had  always 
insisted  on  the  right  of  regulating  their  own  affairs 
for  themselves,  of  voting  their  own  taxes,  salarying 
their  own  judges,  raising  and  officering  their  own 
troops.  The  colonial  legislatures  were  in  their  view 
coordinate  Parliaments.  They  uniformly  denied 
that  the  imperial  Parliament  had  any  right  to  make 
laws  for  them  while  they  were  unrepresented  in  it. 
As  against  the  British  people,  therefore,  they  had  no 
declaration  of  independence  to  make.  It  was  as 
absurd,  they  held,  for  the  burgesses  and  knights  of 
the  English  shires  to  vote  taxes  on  the  colonists  as 
it  would  be  for  the  colonists  to  reverse  the  process. 
The   people   of   England   were   not   their   masters. 


AND    THE    WAK    OF  JS DEPENDENCE  93 

They  were  self-governing  by  their  own  charters 
under  the  British  constitution.  The  single  point  of 
union  between  them  and  the  English  people  was 
allegiance  in  common  to  the  same  sovereign. 

The  great  and  difficult  step  to  be  taken,  therefore, 
by  the  colonists,  in  1776,  was  to  cast  off  their  alle- 
giance to  the  throne.  It  was  against  the  king  that 
the  impeachments  of  the  Declaration  were  ad- 
dressed, and  not  against  the  Parliament.  It  was 
the  long  series  of  acts,  so  impressively  recited  in  the 
preamble  of  that  great  instrument  as  implying  every 
attribute  that  can  define  a  tyrant,  which  forced  the 
long-hesitating  and  reluctant  provincials  at  length  to 
sever  the  last  tie  which  bound  them  to  the  British 
government. 

It  was  with  no  insincerity,  therefore,  that  the 
Presbyterian  clergy,  for  more  than  a  year  after  we 
were  actually  at  war  with  Great  Britain,  continued 
to  pray  for  "our  sovereign  and  rightful  lord,  King 
George."  They  owned  him  as  their  legitimate 
prince,  though  they  denied  that  the  Parliament  was 
their  master.  No  doubt,  also,  the  simple,  domestic 
and  religious  character  of  the  king  and  the  various 
stories  told  of  his  kindly,  frugal  life  had  greatly  en- 
deared him  to  the  colonists,  with  whom  such  virtues 
were  prized  at  their  full  value.  The  last  sound  of 
prayer  for  George  the  Third  died  out  of  Presbyterian 
pulpits  in  the  month  of  June,  1776,  and  in  its  stead 


94  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

came  a  new  collect,  sine  moiiitore,  quia  de  pectore, 
for  "the  Congress  of  these  United  States  and  for 
His  Excellency  the  commander  in  chief  of  the 
American  armies." 

It  was  just  at  this  time  that  there  swam  into  the 
ken  of  a  distinguished  British  watcher  of  the  skies  a 
new  planet,  which,  with  perhaps  a  pardonable  loy- 
alty, he  called  the  Georgium  Sidus.  Astronomy 
herself,  who  seldom  stoops  to  flatter  kings,  has 
since  called  it  after  the  name  of  the  finder, 
"Herschel,"  or,  more  commonly,  Uranus.  The 
tidings  of  the  discovery  came  to  us  through  the 
French  savans;  and  the  data  were  so  complete  that 
our  own  Rittenhouse— himself,  I  may  add,  a  devout 
Presbyterian — was  able  at  the  first  sweep  to  fix 
his  glass  upon  that  outlying  member  of  our  solar 
system. 

We  have  quite  recently  been  informed,  also  from 
France,  of  the  discovery  of  another  planet  of  a  cer- 
tain magnitude,  with  so  many  hours  and  minutes 
right  ascension,  so  much  south  declination,  and 
some  three  degrees,  perhaps,  of  daily  motion 
north. ^  The  Georgium  Sidus,  though  certainly  a 
star  of  the  first  political  magnitude,  had  unfortu- 
nately so  little  right  ascension  in  this  continent  and 
so  many  degrees  of  northern  motion  that  it  soon  set 

^  Communicated  by  Professor  Henry  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion to  the  New  York  Tribune  in  May,  1876. 


AND    THE    WAR   OF  INDEPENDENCE  95 

in  clouds  beyond  the  lakes,  and  was  never  able  af- 
terwards to  send  its  rays  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 

That  increased  fervor  and  importunity  was  given 
to  the  prayers  which  now  went  up  for  all  those  in 
authority  might  reasonably  be  presumed,  and  is  il- 
lustrated by  well-known  facts.  There  had  been 
for  some  time  maintained  in  the  city  of  New  York 
by  the  Presbyterian  and  other  clergy  a  weekly  min- 
isters' meeting  for  devotion  and  mutual  improve- 
ment. Eminent  among  this  band  of  Christ's  serv- 
ants was  Dr.  John  Rodgers,  previously  of  St. 
George's  parish,  Delaware,  subsequently  the  first 
moderator  of  the  General  Assembly.  He  was  an 
eloquent  preacher,  a  firm  and  unwavering  patriot, 
the  friend  and  counselor  of  George  Washington. 
No  sooner  had  the  clock  struck  the  fated  hour  of 
liberty  than  on  his  motion  the  meeting  was  resolved 
into  a  concert  of  prayer  for  God's  blessing  upon  the 
Revolutionary  struggle,  and  was  regularly  attended 
as  such  until  the  British  troops  took  possession  of 
the  city.  The  same  sentiment  pervaded  our  entire 
Church.  From  every  Presbyterian  pulpit  in  the 
land,  from  every  Presbyterian  hearth,  went  up  the 
unceasing  voice  of  intercession  for  the  suffering 
country. 

But  the  Presbyterian  clergy  of  the  period  by  no 
means  confined  themselves  to  the  duty  of  prayer  for 
the  cause  of  freedom.     In  the  fluctuations  of  the 


96  THE  PRESBYrEEIAN  CHURCH 

war  our  own  churches,  Uke  others,  were  frequently 
laid  waste.  They  were  burned  by  accident  or  de- 
sign. They  were  occupied  by  the  British  troops  for 
riding  schools,  hospitals,  jails  or  barracks.  The 
congregations  were  dispersed  or  consisted  only  of 
non-combatants.  The  young,  the  middle-aged,  in 
many  cases  the  hale  old  men,  were  following  after 
Washington,  in  those  brave  marches  amid  the  sands 
of  New  Jersey,  over  the  rocks  and  snows  of  Penn- 
sylvania, till  they  stood  at  length — all  that  was  left 
of  them — in  the  trenches  about  Yorktown.  The 
displaced  pastors  in  many  cases  went  with  their 
people  to  the  held.  They  served  as  army  chaplains. 
They  shouldered  the  musket  or  bore  the  spontoon 
in  the  actual  shock  of  battle.  Oi  more  than  one  of 
them  it  may  be  said,  as  of  Uhic  Zwingle,  Pro 
Christo  ei  pro  patria  etiaui  ciim  fratrilms,  for  titer 
piignans,  imniortalitis  certns,  occuiit. 

The  records  of  the  synod  mention  the  death  of 
the  Rev.  James  Caldwell,  whose  sufferings  and  death 
make  one  of  the  darker  scenes  in  the  drama  of  the 
Revolution,  and  of  the  Rev.  John  Rosburgh,  of 
Allentown,  New  Jersey,  who  "was  barbarously 
murdered  by  the  enemy  at  Trenton  on  the  2d  of 
January,  1777."' 

'  iMinntes  of  the  Synod  of  N^nv  York  and  Philadelphia  under 
May  21,  1777.     This  cruel  act  was  not  committed  by  the  Hessians, 

as  commonly  stated,  but  by  a  party  of  Britisli  dragoons. 


AND    THE    WAR   OF  INDEPENDENCE  97 

It  was  by  such  experiences  as  these  for  our 
Church  and  our  country  that  we  came  per  ardiia  ad 
astra—th rough  the  stripes  to  the  stars. 

The  elders  of  our  Church  were  equally  forward 
in  the  cause  of  freedom — so  much  so,  indeed,  that 
if  we  should  judge  from  numerous  facts  we  might 
almost  conclude  that  our  entire  eldership  during 
that  period  was  divided  into  teaching  elders  and 
fighting  elders.  A  highly  significant  illustration  of 
this  is  the  fact  that  the  five  officers  who  commanded 
regiments  or  parts  of  regiments  at  the  severe  fight 
of  King's  Mountain,  Colonels  Williams,  Shelby, 
Campbell,  Sevier  and  Cleveland,  were  every  one 
elders  of  Presbyterian  churches.  ^ 

The  part  played  in  the  course  of  this  struggle  by 
Dr.  JOHN  WiTHERSPOON  has  been  so  much  the  theme 
of  remark  throughout  these  Centennial  services  that 
it  is  something  more  than  superfluous  to  go  into 
any  detailed  account  of  him.  Yet  a  sketch  of  this 
kind  would  be  too  defective  if  he  were  wholly  left 
out.  He  came  to  America  in  1768,  an  adult  and 
thoroughbred  Scotchman,  in  consequence  of  his 
election  to  the  presidency  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey.  He  had  already  been  distinguished  as  a 
vigorous  polemic,  a  keen  satirist,  a  staunch  though 
not  always  prudent  defender  of  evangelical  religion 
and  Christian  morality.     His  Ecclesiastical  Charac- 

*  Smytlrs  Eir/es.  Re/yublicanismy'^.  145. 


98  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

teristics,  dealing  as  it  does  in  sarcasm,  irony  and 
personal  caricature,  is  among  tlie  more  doubtful 
metiiods  by  which  a  good  cause  may  be  defended. 
It  was  an  anonymous  exposure  of  the  theological 
system  and  moral  and  religious  character  of  the 
low  and  slow  "  moderates  "  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land. 

The  work  fell  like  a  bombshell  into  the  camp  of 
the  philosophizing,  theater-going,  semi-deistical 
clergy,  the  friends  of  Hume,  Lord  Kames  'and 
Robert  Burns.  An  outbreak  of  wrath  followed. 
Dr.  Witherspoon  was  a  member  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Irvine,  and  had  just  been  ''presented"  to  the 
living  of  Paisley.  The  Presbytery  of  Paisley  took 
up  the  book,  pronounced  it  false  and  libelous, 
and  lodged  a  complaint  of  it  and  its  reputed  author 
before  the  Synod  of  Glasgow.  Dr.  Witherspoon 
defended  himself  in  a  firm  and  ingenious  speech, 
challenging  the  proof  of  his  authorship  of  the  offen- 
sive publication  and  charging  the  Presbytery  of 
Paisley  with  a  gratuitous  and  unauthorized  attempt 
to  destroy  him  indirectly,  instead  of  coming  man- 
fully forward  and  tabling  charges  against  him. 

The  result  was  his  acquittal  and  triumph.  But  he 
fared  less  successfully  in  a  subsequent  collision 
with  the  civil  courts.  He  was  indicted  for  attack- 
ing certain  persons  by  name  from  the  pulpit,  found 
guilty  of  libel  and  sentenced  to  the  payment  of  a 


AND    THE    WAR   OF  INDEPENDENCE  99 

considerable  fine.  In  his  defense  before  the  Synod 
of  Glasgow,  Dr.  Witherspoon  had  observed  that  if 
he  had  spoken  of  the  Scottish  Kirk  with  half  the 
severity  that  many  English  writers  had  employed 
toward  their  own  clergy  "he  should  need  to  keep 
a  ship  always  ready  to  flee  to  another  country." 
The  ship  arrived  now  just  at  the  critical  moment, 
bringing  to  Dr.  Witherspoon  an  invitation  to  accept 
the  presidency  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey.  He 
embarked  and  sailed  away,  leaving  his  sureties 
to  settle  as  they  could  with  the  justices  of  the 
quorum.  ^ 

The  Ecclesiastical  Characteristics  made  an  im- 
pression by  its  severity  and  personality  much  beyond 
what  can  be  explained  to  the  modern  reader  by  its 
literary  merits.  The  irony  is  too  broad  and  coarse, 
and  leaves  the  reader  too  little  opportunity  for  the 
exercise  of  his  own  penetration  in  discovermg  the 
application.  Another  essay  of  the  author's,  an 
allegorical  history  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  par- 
ticularly of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  under  the  figure 
of  a  "corporation  of  servants,"  is  both  far  wittier 
than  the  Characteristics  and  much  freer  from  objec- 
tionable personalities. 

In  all  Dr.  Witherspoon's  miscellaneous  writings 
the  influence  of  his  familiarity  with  the  writings  of 

1  Sprague's    Annals    of   the    American    Pulpit,    article    John 

WlTHKRSrOoN. 


100  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Dean  Swift  is  very  observable.  The  treatise  last 
named  is  evidently  modeled  on  the  History  of  John 
Bull,  and  while  wanting  in  the  grotesque  humor  of 
Swift's  dialogue  carries  out  the  allegory  with  almost 
as  grave  and  consistent  an  irony.  With  far  less 
genius  than  the  dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  he  had  the 
same  literary  audacity,  the  same  plain,  nervous 
English  style,  the  same  passion  for  dabbling  in 
politics,  and  perhaps  a  little  too  much  of  the  same 
willingness  to  indulge  in  coarse  jests  and  allusions. 

John  Witherspoon  was  as  true  a  type  of  the 
average  Scotch  Presbyterian  mind  as  John  Knox 
himself,  from  whom  he  is  said  to  have  descended. 
Hard,  resolute,  pugnacious,  his  mission  was  to 
fight  the  battles  of  religious  liberty  under  what 
standard  soever;  and  it  may  be  regarded  as  probable 
enough  that  had  he  come  to  America  at  an  earlier 
age  he  would  have  been  as  ready  to  draw  the 
sword  as  to  wield  the  pen  in  the  cause  of  independ- 
ence. While  quite  a  youth  his  tastes  led  him  to 
look  on  at  the  field  of  Falkirk,  where  the  High- 
landers of  Charles  Edward  routed  the  royal  army, 
and  where,  though  a  non-combatant,  he  remained 
a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  rebels.  The  bright 
blossoming  of  his  piety  and  culture  was  guarded  by 
the  spines  of  a  high  temper  and  a  formidable  logic. 
He  bore  on  his  very  front  the  legend  of  his  country's 
thistle,  Nemo  nw  impuuc  iacessit. 


AND   THE    WAR   OF  INDEPENDENCE  101 

Such  a  man,  though  but  a  recent  immigrant,  was 
as  valuable  as  he  was  a  ready  champion  of  the 
rights  of  the  colonies.  His  sentiments  rapidly  grew 
up  to  the  height  of  those  of  the  most  advanced 
patriots.  In  his  letter  "  On  conducting  the  Ameri- 
can Controversy  "  and  his  "  Thoughts  on  American 
Liberty,"  while  continuing  to  profess  affection  and 
loyalty  to  the  British  throne,  he  exposed  with  great 
clearness  the  actual  situation  of  affairs  and  sketched 
with  the  hand  of  a  statesman  the  steps  the  colonies 
should  pursue  for  the  vindication  of  their  rights. 
In  the  pulpit  he  was  equally  outspoken.  On  the 
17th  of  May,  1776,  appointed  by  Congress  as  a  day 
of  fasting  and  prayer,  he  preached  a  sermon  (after- 
wards published  with  a  dedication  to  John  Han- 
cock) on  the  text,  "Surely  the  wrath  of  man  shall 
praise  thee:  the  remainder  of  wrath  shalt  thou 
restrain."  The  theme  was  ''God's  dominion  over 
the  passions  of  men,"  and  was  drawn  out  into  the 
proposition  that  "the  ambition  of  mistaken  princes, 
the  cunning  and  cruelty  of  oppressive  and  corrupt 
ministers,  and  even  the  inhumanity  of  brutal 
soldiers,  shall  finally  promote  the  glory  of  God; 
and  in  the  meantime,  while  the  storm  continues, 
his  mercy  and  kindness  shall  appear  in  prescribing 
bounds  to  their  rage  and  fury." 

In  the  course  of  this  sermon  Dr.  Witherspoon 
said:  "You  shall  not,  my  brethren,  hear  from  me 


10-2  THE  PREsnVTERlAK  CHURCH 

in  the  pulpit  what  you  have  never  heard  from  me  in 
conversation :  I  mean  railing  at  the  king  personally, 
or  even  his  ministers  and  Parliament  and  the  people 
of  Britain  as  so  many  barbarous  savages.  Many  of 
their  actions  have  been  worse  than  their  intentions. 
That  they  should  desire  unlimited  dominion  if  they 
can  obtain  or  preserve  it  is  neither  new  nor  wonder- 
ful. 1  do  not  refuse  submission  to  their  unjust 
claims  because  they  themselves  are  corrupt  or 
profligate,  though  many  of  them  probably  are  so, 
but  because  they  are  men,  and  therefore  liable  to  all 
the  selfish  bias  inseparable  from  human  nature.  1 
call  this  claim  unjust  of  making  laws  to  bind  us  in 
all  cases  whatsoever,  because  they  are  widely 
separated  from  us,  are  independent  of  us  and  have 
an  interest  in  oppressing  us.  This  is  the  true  and 
proper  hinge  of  the  controversy  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  colonies." 

A  few  days  after  this  sermon  was  preached  Dr. 
Witherspoon  became  a  member  of  the  provincial 
Congress  of  New  Jersey,  and  on  the  22d  of  June 
was  chosen  one  of  the  representatives  to  the  general 
Congress.  Only  four  days  elapsed  between  his 
taking  his  seat  in  this  august  body  and  the  2d  of 
July,  when  the  declaration  was  adopted.  He  had 
not  heard  the  debates;  and  though  his  own  mind 
was  irrevocably  made  up  and  he  came,  indeed,  under 
instructions  to  vote  for  independence,  yet  to  satisfy 


A^'D    THE    WAR    OF  INDEPENDENCE  103 

his  own  sense  of  self-respect  he  desired  to  hear  the 
whole  argument  in  the  affirmative  presented.  To 
satisfy  him  and  one  or  two  others  similarly  situated 
this  was  agreed  to;  and,  by  the  choice  of  his  col- 
leagues, Samuel  Adams  came  forward  and  went 
over  the  whole  ground. 

Witherspoon  no  longer  pretended  any  hesitation. 
He  had  not  been  willing  to  vote  on  so  momentous  a 
question  without  both  hearing  and  giving  reasons. 
He  declared  himself  fully  satisfied,  and  urged  that 
the  declaration  should  be  passed  without  delay. 
He  thought  the  country  was  ripe  for  it,  and  more 
than  ripe:  it  was  in  danger  of  spoiling  for  the  want 
of  it.  Besides  this  single  dictum  and  the  fragment 
of  a  speech  traditionally  imputed  to  him,  we  have 
no  means  of  knowing  what  particular  services  he 
rendered  the  country  on  the  floor  of  Congress;  but 
his  published  "  speeches  "  are  a  monument  of  his 
enthusiasm  in  the  cause  of  liberty,  in  successive 
pamphlets  he  laid  open  before  the  world  the  causes 
and  character  of  the  war,  warned  the  British  people 
of  the  consequence  of  persisting  in  it,  and  in  the 
name  of  his  adopted  countrymen  avowed  that  they 
infinitely  preferred  extermination  to  the  surrender 
of  their  liberties.  From  this  high  flame  of  heroic 
argument  he  could  descend  to  pillory  a  renegade 
parson  or  lampoon  a  tory  printer.  James  Riving- 
ton,  besides  his  other  claims  to  notoriety,  had  "the 


104  THE    PRF.SBYTEniAN  CHURCH 

fame  to  be  lashed  by  his  pen."  In  the  cause  of 
independence  he  fought  with  "what  trivial  weapon 
came  to  hand."  Libertati  (for  liberty,  he  thought, 
as  well  as  for  necessity)  quodlibet  telinn  utile.  For 
some  enemies  of  freedom  he  scorned  a  sword.  It 
was  honor  enough  if  he  mauled  them  with  a 
bludgeon  or  even  defiled  their  faces  with  dirt.  His 
sun  both  rose  and  set  partly  in  clouds;  but  its 
middle  course  at  least  was  resplendent  with  the 
light  of  heroism  as  a  patriot,  zeal  and  success  as  an 
educator  of  youth  and  faithful  testimony  as  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel. 

The  formal  histories  of  our  Church  relate  how 
many  others  of  our  clergy  helped  on  the  struggle 
for  independence  by  brave  words  and  brave  deeds, 
by  valiant  service  in  the  field  or  wise  counsel  in  the 
senate.  The  whole  weight  of  the  only  body  of 
clergy  and  churches  which,  out  of  New  England, 
enjoyed  any  appreciable  prestige  or  influence,  went 
undivided  in  aid  of  the  cause  of  liberty.  The  schism 
in  the  Presbyterian  body  had  been  happily  healed 
seventeen  years  before.  The  Church  was  absolutely 
harmonious  and  at  peace  within  herself,  and  acted 
as  a  unit  in  the  struggle.  There  were  a  few. in- 
stances, like  the  famous  and  witty  Mather  Byles,  of 
Congregationalist  tories,  not  one  of  a  Presbyterian. 
The  social  status,  the  education  and  culture,  the 
eloquence,    the   faith,   the   prayers   of   our   Church 


AND    THE    WAi:    OF  INDErLWDENCK  !(».") 

fathers  were  enlisted  on  the  side  of  independence; 
so  that,  as  that  staunch  friend  of  the  colonies, 
Horace  Walpole,  said:  "  There  was  no  good  in  cry- 
ing about  the  matter.  Cousin  America  had  run 
off  with  a  Presbyterian  parson,  and  that  was  the 
end  of  it." ' 

It  is  a  circumstance  of  interest  connected  with 
this  history  that  our  struggle  with  Great  Britain  had 
nothing  whatever  of  the  character  of  a  religious 
war.  When,  twenty  years  earlier,  the  provincials 
fought  by  the  side  of  the  British  regulars  for  the 
mastery  of  the  continent,  it  was  against  aliens  and 
papists,  with  a  legitimate  horror  of  wooden  shoes, 
frogs  and  the  whore  of  Babylon.  "Virginians, 
Britons,  Christians,  Protestants!  "  exclaimed  Samuel 
Davies  in  1756,  "  if  you  would  save  yourselves  and 
your  families  from  all  the  infernal  horrors  of  po- 
pery, if  you  would  preserve  your  estates  from  fall- 
ing a  prey  to  priests,  friars  and  hungry  Gallic  slaves, 

^  Letter  to  the  Countess  of  Ossory,  August  3,  1775. 

He  was  never  tired  of  launching  his  indignant  witticisms  at  the 
parhament  and  the  conduct  of  the  war.  "  The  Americans,  at  least, 
have  acted  like  men.  Our  conduct  has  been  that  of  pert  children  : 
we  have  thrown  a  pebble  at  a  mastiff,  and  are  surprised  it  was  not 
frightened." — December  15,  1774.  "  A  great  majority  in  both 
houses  is  as  brave  as  a  mob  ducking  a  pickpocket.  They  flattered 
themselves  they  should  terrify  the  colonies  into  submission  in  three 
months,  and  are  ama/ed  to  hear  there  is  no  such  probability.  They 
might  as  well  have  excommunicated  them  and  left  the  devil  to  put 
the  sentence  in  execution." — February  iS,  1775. 


Um  THE  FRE&BYTEEIAN  CHURCH 

if  you  would  preserve  the  pure  religion  of  Jesus 
from  superstition,  idolatry  and  tyranny  over  the 
conscience,  strike  home  in  such  a  cause!  " 

But  here  we  were  arrayed  against  our  brethren  of 
the  same  Anglo-Saxon  race,  speaking  the  same 
"dear  English  tongue,"  and  professing  the  same 
evangelical  faith  of  the  Reformation.  Even  those 
unfortunate  Hessians,  who  were  sold  by  the  greed 
of  their  prince  to  kill  and  be  killed  in  battles  in 
the  result  of  which  they  had  no  interest,  were  our 
fellow-Protestants  and,  I  may  say  with  a  little 
allowance,  our  fellow-Presbyterians,  formidable  to 
our  grandmothers  by  their  outlandish  speech  and 
their  bearskin  caps  much  more  than  to  our  grand- 
sires  by  any  forward  or  ferocious  valor  in  the  field. 
They  were  the  subjects  of  Frederic  II  of  Hesse- 
Cassel,  himself  a  pervert  to  Romanism,  while  the 
great  majority  of  his  people  were  of  the  Reformed 
or  the  Lutheran  confessions,  it  is  pathetic  to  be 
told  that  when  nine  hundred  of  these  poor  "  driven 
cattle"  laid  down  their  arms  at  Trenton,  and  were 
formed  into  columns  to  be  marched  off  to  their 
prisoners'  quarters,  they  lifted  up  their  sad  voices 
in  the  old  familiar  strains  of  a  Vaterland's  hymn, 
"  Ein  feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott"  or  some  other. 
Their  own  "  wehr  und  waffen  "  had  proved,  indeed, 
but  a  poor  reliance  in  their  ignorant  struggle  against 
liberty.      But    God    was    their    refuge    and    their 


AND    THE    WAR   OF  INDEPENDENCE  107 

Strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble.  The  war 
was  neither  carried  on,  therefore,  with  that  ferocity 
which  characterizes  religious  wars,  nor  did  it  leave 
legacies  of  unsatisfied  vengeance  behind.  Many  of 
the  Hessians  remained  as  voluntary  settlers  when 
the  royal  armies  finally  withdrew,  and  became  a 
valuable  element  in  the  composition  of  American 
society. 

If  we  examine  the  records  of  the  Synod  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  during  the  war,  we  find 
frequent  evidence  of  the  intense  interest  with 
which  the  struggle  was  viewed  and  the  hearty 
patriotism  of  the  Presbyterian  clergy.  In  the 
pastoral  letter  already  referred  to,  issued  to  the 
churches  the  22d  of  May,  1774,  the  synod  urges: 
"Be  careful  to  maintain  the  union  that  at  present 
subsists  through  all  the  colonies.  In  particular, 
as  the  Continental  Congress  now  sitting  in  Phila- 
delphia consists  of  delegates  chosen  in  the  most 
free  and  unbiased  manner  by  the  body  of  the 
people,  let  them  not  only  be  treated  with  respect 
and  encouraged  in  their  difficult  service,  not  only 
let  your  prayers  be  offered  up  to  God  for  his  di- 
rection in  their  proceedings,  but  adhere  firmly  to 
their  resolutions,  and  let  it  be  seen  that  they  are 
able  to  bring  out  the  whole  strength  of  this  vast 
country  to  carry  them  into  execution." 


108  THE  PRESUYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Repeatedly  the  synod  appointed  days  of  fasting 
and  humiliation  in  view  of  those  sins  which  had 
brought  down  the  "just  judgment"  of  God  in  so 
destructive  a  war  upon  the  colonists;  and  they  made 
the  last  Thursday  of  each  month  "a  monthly  con- 
cert of  prayer "  for  its  early  and  successful  termina- 
tion. They  felt  no  difficulty,  as  devout  students  of 
God's  word  and  providence,  in  reconciling  the  un- 
just and  wicked  character  of  the  war  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain  with  its  righteousness  as  a  part  of  the 
divine  administration  toward  an  ill-deserving  gen- 
eration. As  subjects,  indeed,  they  were  the  victims 
of  oppression  and  misgovernment;  but  as  sinners, 
they  laid  their  hand  upon  their  mouth  and  acknowl- 
edged that  they  received  no  more  than  the  colonial 
iniquity  deserved. 

In  1779  the  synod,  "  taking  into  consideration  the 
great  and  increasing  decay  of  vital  piety,  the  degen- 
eracy of  manners,  want  of  public  spirit,  and  prev- 
alence of  vice  and  immorality  that  obtains  through- 
out our  land,  and  that  the  righteous  God,  by  con- 
tinuing still  to  afflict  us  with  the  sore  calamity  of  a 
cruel  and  barbarous  war,  is  loudly  calling  the  inhabit- 
ants to  repentance  and  reformation,  and  as  a  means 
thereto  to  deep  humiliation  and  frequent  and  fer- 
vent prayer,"  appointed  the  17th  of  August  to  be 
observed  for  that  purpose,  and  renewed  the  recom- 
mendation    for     the    patriotic     monthly    concert. 


AND   THE    WAR   OF  INDEPENDENCE  109 

Identically  the  same  action,  in  the  same  words, 
seems  to  have  been  taken  by  the  synod  the  year 
following,  and  the  same  month  and  day  fixed  upon 
for  public  humiliation  and  prayer.  In  1777  the 
Continental  Congress  having  appointed  a  general 
fast  to  be  kept  on  the  17th  of  May,  the  moderator, 
by  his  own  authority,  postponed  the  meeting  of 
synod  till  after  that  day;  which  was  allowed  to  pass 
pro  hac  vice  under  protest.  Louis  XVI,  whose 
throne  was  already  beginning  to  totter,  had  become 
our  ally;  and  on  the  17th  of  May,  1782,  the  synod 
appointed  a  committee,  of  which  Dr.  John  Wither- 
spoon  was  chairman,  to  prepare  an  address  to  the 
French  minister,  congratulating  him  on  the  birth  of 
a  Dauphin,  ''son  and  heir  to  the  crown-of  his  royal 
master;  "  that  unhappy  "  Bourbon  "  who  died  in  the 
prison  of  the  temple,  but  whom  it  is  still  be- 
lieved by  some  we  had  "among  us"  disguised 
under  the  alias  of  Eleazar  Williams,  and  in  the 
shape  of  an  Episcopal  missionary  to  the  St.  Regis 
Indians. 


Ill 

STRUGGLE  FOR   RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY 

The  Presbyterian  Church  came  out  of  the  war 
whose  success  she  had  done  so  much  to  ensure,  de- 
pleted indeed  in  her  churches,  many  of  which  had 


110  THE  FRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

been  destroyed,  and  in  her  membership,  which  had 
left  large  contingents  on  every  battle  field  of  the  war, 
but  with  her  organization  intact,  her  machinery  all 
in  working  order,  and  with  a  vigorous  salient  life 
that  fitted  her  for  an  immediate  career  of  growth 
and  influence.  That  she  stood  far  in  advance  of 
any  other  denomination  in  the  land  cannot  be 
doubted.  During  all  the  preceding  eight  years  of 
distraction  and  suffering,  her  ministry  had  steadily  in- 
creased. The  work  of  home  evangelization  had  been 
systematically  prosecuted.  Pastors  were  detailed 
by  order  of  the  synod  to  supply  occasional  services 
to  vacant  congregations.  Books  of  ' '  practical  relig- 
ion "  were  purchased  "  for  distribution  among  the 
frontier  inhabitants;"  missionaries  were  dispatched 
to  plant  and  nurse  churches  in  the  feebler  colonies; 
chaplains  were  commissioned  for  the  army;  frequent 
cases  of  licensure  and  installation  occurred;  the 
work  of  discipline  was  faithfully  attended  to.  The 
Indian  fund,  the  widows'  fund,  the  fund  '' for  the 
education  of  poor  and  pious  young  men  for  the 
ministry," — all  these  were  carefully  administered. 
In  every  month  of  May  during  the  war  the  synod 
held  its  regular  *' sederunt";  though  the  disturbed 
state  of  the  country  often  prevented  whole  presby- 
teries from  attending.  Day  after  day  during  the 
sessions  the  quaint  record  informs  us  that  "the 
synod  met  according  to  adjournment,  ubi  post  preces 


AND  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  111 

sederunt  qui  supra;  "  an  expansion  of  the  cabalistic 
letters  U.  P.  P.  S.  Q.  S.  found  in  the  earlier  min- 
utes. 

Particularly  deserving  of  mention  is  the  wise  and 
firm  policy  of  the  synod  in  respect  to  the  qualifica- 
tions of  candidates  for  the  ministry.  The  urgent 
need  of  ministers  in  various  parts  of  the  country  led 
to  the  natural  suggestion,  so  often  renewed  in  later 
times,  that  young  men  of  suitable  gifts  and  piety 
might  be  introduced  to  the  ministry  after  only  brief 
intellectual  discipline.  Such  an  overture  was  made  to 
the  synod  in  1776  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle. 
The  synod  replied  that  "the  superior  advantages 
attending  an  education  in  public  seminaries  render 
It  highly  expedient  to  encourage  the  young  men  to 
finish  their  academical  studies  in  such  institutions,  as 
means  of  securing  a  learned  ministry;  and  presby- 
teries are  ordered  to  promote  this  end  by  warmly 
recommending  it  to  those  who  have  the  ministry  in 
view.  Yet  as  presbyteries  are  the  proper  judges  to 
determine  concerning  the  literary  and  other  requisite 
qualifications  for  the  ministerial  office,  it  is  not  in- 
tended to  preclude  from  admission  to  trial  those 
who  have  not  had  the  opportunity  of  obtaining 
public  testimonials  or  degrees  from  public  semi- 
naries." 

To  the  same  effect  was  a  brief  and  positive  de- 
liverance of  the  synod  in  1783.     *'  An  overture  hav- 


112  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

ing  been  brought  in  in  the  following  terms,  viz., 
'  Whether,  in  the  present  state  of  the  Church  in 
America  and  the  scarcity  of  ministers  to  fill  our  nu- 
merous congregations,  the  synod  or  presbyteries 
ought  therefore  to  relax  in  any  degree  in  the  liter- 
ary qualifications  required  of  intrants  into  the  min- 
istry,' it  was  carried  in  the  negative  by  a  great 
majority." 

This  was  in  noble  harmony  with  the  doctrine  of 
the  Kirk  of  Scotland  as  set  forth  in  the  first  Book  of 
Discipline.  "Neither  for  rarity  of  men,  necessity 
of  teaching,  nor  for  any  corruption  of  time,  should 
unable  persons  be  admitted  to  the  ministry.  Better 
it  is  to  have  the  room  vacant  than  to  have  unquali- 
fied persons,  to  the  scandal  of  the  ministry  and 
hurt  of  the  Kirk.  In  the  rarity  of  qualified  men 
we  should  call  unto  the  Lord,  that  he  of  his  good- 
ness would  send  forth  true  laborers  to  his  harvest." 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  America  thus  main- 
tained her  hereditary  character  for  a  thoroughly 
trained  and  cultured  ministry.  Her  clergy  at  the 
close  of  the  war  were  few  in  number,  not  exceed- 
ing probably  one  hundred  and  fifty;  but  they  were 
men  who  had  borne  the  test  of  fire  ;  the  peers  for 
talent  and  accomplishment  of  the  foremost  in  the 
State.  They  wore  the  prestige  of  a  suffering  and 
triumphant  martyr-Church,  fully  identified  with  the 
spirit   of   the   country.     If  any  sect   of   Christians 


AND   HE UG IOCS   LIBERTY  113 

in  the  newly-founded  republic  could  reasonably  have 
claimed  special  favors  from  the  State  it  was  the 
Church  of  Rodgers  and  Caldwell,  of  Davies  and 
Witherspoon,  of  Stanhope,  of  the  Alisons  and  Blair 
Smiths,  and  the  others  whose  conspicuous  zeal  had 
given  the  war  the  popular  character  of  a  "  Presby- 
terian rebellion";  men  whose  lives  had  proclaimed 
before  England  and  the  world, 

"  We  must  be  free  or  die,  who  speak  the  tongue 

That  Shakespeare  spake ;  the  faith  and  morals  hold 
Which  Milton  held.     In  everything  we  are  sprung 
Of  earth's  first  blood,  have  titles  manifold."  ' 

It  is  not  strange  that  other  sects,  conscious  of  this 
fact,  looked  upon  her  with  some  jealousy  and  alarm. 
Not  the  slightest  effort  did  our  fathers  make  to  avail 
themselves  of  these  advantages.  They  desired 
nothing  but  equal  rights  for  all  and  wt't/i  all  Chris- 
tians. In  1781  and  again  in  1783  they  adopted  this 
declaration:  "  It  having  been  represented  to  synod 
that  the  Presbyterian  Church  suffers  in  the  opinion 
of  other  denominations  from  an  apprehension  that 
they  hold  intolerant  principles,  the  synod  do  sol- 
emnly and  publicly  declare  that  they  ever  have 
and  still  do  renounce  and  abhor  the  principles  of  in- 
tolerance, and  we  do  believe  that  all  peaceable 
members  of  civil  society  ought  to  be  protected 
in  the  full  and  free  exercise  of  their  religion." 

'  Wonlsworth,  ><>nnets  dedicated  to  Liberty,  I,  xv. 


114  THE   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH 

These  just  as  well  as  generous  sentiments  were 
by  no  means  universally  entertained  at  that  tinie. 
No  sooner  did  the  sun  of  peace  illumine  the  land 
than  Episcopacy,  which  had  wholly  disappeared 
from  view,  came  forth  again  and  with  a  singular 
lack  both  of  modesty  and  justice  endeavored  to  re- 
claim its  lapsed  colonial  prerogatives.  Our  Church 
fathers  were  obliged  to  engage  in  a  new  struggle 
for  religious  equality. 

This  struggle  took  place  chiefly  on  the  soil  of 
Virginia,  in  which,  as  already  observed.  Episcopacy 
had  been  most  thoroughly  established.  On  the  ^th 
December,  1776,  after  a  debate  lasting  for  two 
months,  in  which  Thomas  Jefferson  and  other 
great  men  of  the  Old  Dominion  took  part,  the 
assembly  of  the  State,  against  the  remonstrances  of 
the  Episcopalians  and  Methodists,  repealed  all  laws 
either  requiring  attendance  on  Episcopal  services  or 
levying  taxes  for  the  support  of  Episcopal  worship; 
but  all  churches,  chapels,  parsonages,  glebe  lands, 
etc.,  originally  the  property  of  a  people  full  two- 
thirds  of  whom  belonged  to  other  denominations, 
were  still  left  to  the  Episcopal  Church.  This  was 
only  an  imperfect  disestablishment,  and  the  ad- 
herents of  that  Church  by  no  means  relinquished 
the  hope  of  regaining  the  exclusive  privileges  they 
had  lost. 

Strong  demonstrations  were  made  toward  sup- 


AND  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  115 

pressing  "unlicensed  preachers,"  punishing  the  ir- 
regularities of  ''sectarian^'  worship,  and  confirm- 
ing the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  unequal  privileges 
it  still  retained. 

That  great  patriot  and  broad  Christian,  Patrick 
Henry,  brought  forward  in  the  Virginia  legislature 
a  bill  for  the  incorporation  of  all  Christian  societies 
and  the  support  of  public  worship  by  general  tax. 
The  splendid  eloquence  and  immense  popularity  of 
the  author  gave  dangerous  advantages  to  the  meas- 
ure, and  he  urged  it  for  two  or  more  sessions  with 
characteristic  vehemence.  The  resistance  to  this 
bill — a  bill  which  embodied  in  fact  or  in  clear 
prospective  all  the  evils  of  a  union  of  Church  and 
State — was  led  by  the  Presbytery  of  Hanover  in 
Virginia,  and  it  here  becomes  proper  to  give  a  brief 
history  of  the  origin  of  that  presbyteiy. 

Previous  to  the  year  1740  there  was  but  a  single 
Presbyterian  Church,  so  far  as  is  known,  in  Eastern 
Virginia.  The  few  who  were  not  Episcopalians 
were  Baptists  or  Quakers,  in  that  year  there  was 
living  in  Hanover  County  (a  district  made  famous  as 
the  birthplace  of  Patrick  Henry  and  Henry  Clay, 
and  *'  blazed  broader  yet  in  after  years  "  as  the  scene 
of  some  of  the  fellest  conflicts  of  the  civil  war)  a 
well-to-do  planter  named  Samuel  Morris.  He  by 
no  means  belonged  to  the  upper  class  of  Virginia 
society,  but  was  a   plain   man,   working  with   his 


116  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

own  hands,  and,  according  to  a  manuscript  state- 
ment, joined  the  business  of  a  mason  to  that  of  a 
planter.  His  soul  had  famished  under  the  minis- 
trations of  the  fox-hunting,  tavern-haunting  parish 
clergy.  But  the  Spirit  of  God  had  touched  his 
heart,  and  the  providence  of  God  strangely  brought 
the  truth  of  the  gospel  within  his  grasp.  Reaching 
blindly  in  the  dark  for  some  one  to  guide  him  in  the 
way  of  life,  he  met  the  hand  of  Luther  stretched  out 
across  two  centuries,  and  bearing  the  commentary 
on  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  that  most  individual 
and  subjective  of  all  commentaries,  "  wherein  is  set 
forth  most  excellently  (as  the  title  page  reads)  the 
glorious  riches  of  God's  grace,  and  the  power  of 
the  gospel,  to  the  joyful  comfort  and  confirmation 
of  all  such  as  do  hunger  and  thirst  for  justification 
in  Christ  Jesus."  Full  as  it  is  of  Christ,  and  of 
redemption  through  his  blood  alone,  it  would 
scarcely  now  be  considered  the  fittest  work  to 
present  to  an  inquiring  soul.  But  in  Hanover 
County  books  were  few  and  scarce  then;  and  of  the 
dilute,  sugared  and  illustrated  books  containing  sal- 
vation made  easy,  there  were  none.  The  awakened 
mind  of  the  tobacco-planter  grappled  with  the 
strong,  vigorous  exhibitions  of  gospel  grace  con- 
tained in  the  commentary  on  what  Luther  fondly 
called  his  epistle,  and  was  led  by  it  to  a  clear  and 
solid    peace   in    believing.     He   hardly   thought   or 


AND   RELIGIOUS   LIBERTY  117 

knew  that  he  was  a  converted  man;  but  he  felt  the 
love  of  Christ  in  his  heart,  and  that  love  constrained 
him  to  try  and  do  good  to  the  souls  of  his  neigh- 
bors. He  invited  them  to  come  to  his  house  on 
Sundays  and  hear  him  read  passages  from  a  book 
which  had  exerted  so  marked  an  influence  on  his 
own  feelings.  They  attended,  and  he  read  to  them 
chapter  after  chapter  of  the  Bible  and  Luther  on  the 
Galatians. 

That  was  all,  absolutely.  They  knew  nothing 
about  extemporary  prayer,  and  none  of  them  durst 
attempt  it.  They  had  neither  books  nor  culture  for 
devotional  singing. 

Dull  service,  we  might  think,  to  bring  together 
the  people  of  a  county!  But  such  a  famine  of  the 
word  had  been  bred  by  the  "  Honeymans,"  the 
"Hagans,"  and  '' Sampsons,"  who  had  been  sent 
over  to  evangelize  the  "Virginians" — so  hungry 
were  the  people  for  the  bread  of  life — that  to  enjoy 
this  meager  worship  they  came  trooping  from  a 
circuit  of  twenty,  thirty  or  fifty  miles.  The  gentle- 
man planter  rode  out  through  his  long  avenue,  with 
his  wife  en  croupe  or  ambling  on  her  palfrey  beside 
him;  the  humbler  farmer  drove  along  his  mule  team 
or  his  ox  cart  loaded  with  his  family;  from  the  rude 
shanty  and  from  the  old  English-like  manor  house 
on  the  banks  of  the  Pamunkey  or  the  Chicka- 
hominy  came  the  eager  throng;  and  on  the  outside 


118  THE   ^RE^BYTEK1A^'   CHURCH 

hung  a  dusky  fringe  from  the  "quarter,"  to  catch 
what  they  could  of  that  free  gospel  which  pro- 
claims liberty  to  the  captive  and  the  opening  of  the 
prison  doors  to  them  that  are  bound. 

The  meetings  increased  in  interest,  and  conver- 
sions began  to  follow.  The  planter's  house  became 
too  small  for  the  congregation.  Mr.  Morris  and 
some  of  his  neighbors  agreed  to  club  together  and 
put  up  a  building — they  had  no  thought  of  calling  it 
a  church — to  accommodate  the  worshipers.  It 
was  known  as  Morris'  Reading-House.  The  at- 
traction of  this  service  was  such  that  other  neigh- 
borhoods desired  to  enjoy  the  same  privilege.  Mr. 
Morris  became  a  lay  reader  at  several  different  and 
distant  stations;  and  the  inquiry  began  to  grow  into 
a  general  awakening. 

In  1743  an  improvement  of  the  spiritual  fare  came 
in  the  shape  of  Whitefield's  Sermons,  then  lately 
published,  a  copy  of  which  was  sent  over  from 
Scotland,  and  presented  by  the  owner  to  Mr.  Morris. 
The  parish  churches  were  neglected,  and  the  people 
thronged  to  hear  the  simple  story  of  the  cross  re- 
cited by  these  unauthorized  lips. 

The  clergy  took  the  alarm  and  called  on  the 
courts  to  visit  the  offenders  with  the  prescribed 
penalties  for  absence  from  public  worship.  Mr. 
Morris  and  his  friends  were  summoned  before  the 
justices,  interrogated  and  fined;  he  himself  twenty 


AND  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  119 

different  times.  The  laws  of  Virginia  frowned  as 
sternly  on  all  religiones  illkitas  as  did  the  laws  of 
the  twelve  tables.  To  secure  any  toleration  a 
worship  must  be  at  least  that  of  some  *'  national 
religion."^ 

The  dissentients  were  summoned  to  declare  what 
denomination  of  Christians  they  belonged  to.  The 
question  puzzled  them  not  a  little.  They  knew 
nothing  of  any  sect  besides  the  Quakers,  and  they 
were  certainly  not  Quakers.  They  asked  leave  to 
consult  together  before  replying  to  His  Honor's  in- 
quiry. What  they  knew  of  gospel  truth  they  had 
learned  mostly  from  Martin  Luther.  The  vanity  of 
all  outward  services  and  formal  rituals  when  the 
troubled  conscience  is  crying  out  for  peace,  and  the 
solid  ground  of  hope  presented  in  free  justification 
through  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  com- 
mended itself  to  their  own  experience.  They  came 
into  court  and  answered  that  "they  were  Luther- 
ans." Lutheranism  was  a  national  religion,  and 
though  the  respondents  only  meant  that  they 
agreed  with  Luther  in  his  views  of  the  gospel,  they 
escaped  under  this  cover  the  punishment  denounced 
against  "  sectarians." 

'  On  the  subject  of  Samuel  Morris  and  the  Presbyterians  in  Vir- 
ginia, see  Foote's  Sketches  of  Presbyterian  Churches,-^.  1 19;  Dr. 
Miller's  Memoir  of  Dr.  John  Rod-^ers,  p.  27,  sqq. ;  Dr.  Rice's  His- 
tory, p,  ii3>  186,  330,  sqq. ;  Bishop  Meade's  Old  Churches  and 
Families  of  Vi7'ginia,  vol.  i,  p.  426. 


120  THE  PUE.SBYTi:illAS   CHURCH 

Two  English  statutes  respecting  religious  worship 
bore,  or  were  alleged  to  bear,  on  the  condition  of 
the  "  Dissenters  "  in  America.  One  was  the  Act  of 
Uniformity  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  as  further  modified 
and  extended  in  the  reign  of  James  1  and  Charles 
II,  making  all  dissent  from  the  worship  of  the  Es- 
tablished Church  penal.  The  other  was  the  Toler- 
ation Act  of  the  Revolution  government  of  i688, 
which  made  cautious  provision  for  the  relief  of  dis- 
senters. It  did  not,  in  terms,  apply  to  the  colonies. 
Indeed  the  specific  mention  of  "  England,  Scotland, 
Ireland,  Berwick-upon-Tweed  and  the  islands  of 
Jersey  and  Guernsey  "  as  the  scope  of  its  operation 
might  seem  to  exclude  them ;  and  the  king's  attor- 
neys in  Virginia  always  denied  the  right  of  the 
Presbyterians  to  avail  themselves  of  its  protection. 
It  was  at  best  a  meager  and  ungracious  concession, 
and  left  the  freedom  of  worship  hampered  with 
vexatious  conditions.' 

In  the  varying  and  unsettled  state  of  judicial  de- 
cisions on  this  point,  colonial  dissenting  preachers 
were  treated  with  more  or  less  rigor  according  to 
the  tempers  of  royal  governors  or  county  justices; 
sometimes  indulged  on  clearing  themselves  by  oath 
of  all  suspicion  of  Unitarianism,  popery  or  jacobit- 
ism ;  sometimes  fined  and  driven  out  of  the  country. 

While  Mr.   Morris  and  his  friends  were  passing 

*  See  the  act  in  iVeaPs  Histoiy  of  the  Puritans^  Appendix  XIII. 


AND   RELlUlOi'^   LUiKliTV  121 

through  this  ordeal  it  happened  that  the  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Robinson  came,  preaching  as  an  evangelist, 
into  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
wealthy  English  Quaker,  but  himself  a  Presbyterian, 
a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  and 
a  zealous,  rousing  preacher  of  the  gospel.^  He  was 
heard  on  some  occasion  by  persons  who  had  been 
accustomed  to  attend  on  the  reading  services  of  Mr. 
Morris.  The  latter  was  informed  of  this  new  evan- 
gelist and  of  the  harmony  of  his  doctrines  with 
those  of  Luther  and  Whitefield.  The  result  was  an 
invitation  to  Mr.  Robinson  to  preach  on  a  set  day  in 
Morris'  Reading-House. 

Notice  was  widely  given  and  great  crowds  came 
together  at  the  appointed  time.  But  highly  recom- 
mended as  Mr.  Robinson  was  for  his  evangelic  zeal 
and  faithfulness,  these  simple  souls  were  jealous  for 
the  purity  of  the  gospel.  While  the  congregation 
waited  they  took  the  evangelist  aside  and  put  him 
through  a  course  of  thorough  examination  on  the 
leading  doctrines.  The  result  was  satisfactory,  and 
Mr.  Robinson  preached  on  that  and  several  follow- 
ing days  with  great  acceptance  and  a  manifest 
blessing.  They  found  themselves  in  perfect  accord 
and  sympathy  with  him.  After  a  while  it  occurred 
to  them  somehow  to  ask  him  to  what  denomination 
of  Christians  he  belonged.     He  said  he  was  a  Pres- 

'  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit,  iii,  92. 


122  THE  FRKSBYTEKIAN  CHVBGH 

byterian.  They  then  said  that  they  believed  they 
were  Presbyterians  too.^ 

This  was  the  germ  of  that  strong  vigorous  Pres- 
byterian Christianity  which  filled  up  and  overflowed 
from  that  district,  and  of  which  the  Presbytery  of 
Hanover  was  the  first  organized  representative. 
Mr.  Robinson's  preaching  made  a  profound  impres- 
sion. The  people  wished  to  express  their  gratitude 
by  presenting  him  a  considerable  sum  of  money. 
He  declined  to  receive  it.  They  urged  it  upon  him, 
but  still  he  refused.  They  then  placed  it  secretly  in 
his  saddlebags  the  evening  before  he  was  to  leave. 
Detecting  the  kindly  fraud,  he  no  longer  resisted, 
but  informed  the  donors  that  he  would  appropriate 
the  money  to  the  use  of  a  young  man  of  his  ac- 
quaintance who  was  studying  for  the  ministry 
under  embarrassed  circumstances.  "  As  soon  as  he 
is  licensed,"  said  Mr.  Robinson,  "we  will  send  him 
to  visit  you.  It  may  be  that  you  are  now  by  your 
liberality  providing  a  minister  for  yourselves." 

They  little  knew  the  splendid  result  to  which  they 
were  contributing,  for  that  poor  young  man  was 
Samuel  Davies,  the  alpha  in  that  southern  cross  of 
flaming  evangelists  who  poured  the  light  of  the 
gospel    on    the    "Ancient   Dominion."      Feeble  in 

1  It  is  not  pretended  in  this  brief  historical  sketch  to  give  all  the 
particulars,  but  merely  to  seize  on  the  more  salient  points  of  the 
story. 


AND  EELIGJOUS  LIBEMTY  123 

health  and  with  the  prospect,  too  surely  realized,  of 
an  early  death,  he  preached  literally  as  a  dying  man 
to  dying  hearers.  A  more  burning  zeal,  a  more  in- 
tense devotion  to  the  work  of  saving  men,  a  more 
heroic  fidelity  to  truth  and  duty  has  never  signal- 
ized the  American  pulpit.  Four  years  after  the 
events  just  related,  in  company  with  his  intimate 
and  equally  distinguished  friend,  John  Rodgers,  he 
made  his  way  to  Hanover  County,  where  he  entered 
into  and  superseded  the  work  of  the  friends  who 
had  helped  in  his  education.  It  was  only  after  an 
energetic  struggle  that  he  succeeded  in  vindicating 
his  right  to  preach  the  gospel  in  Virginia,  while  his 
associate,  notwithstanding  the  friendly  disposition 
of  Governor  Gooch,  was  rudely  refused  a  license 
and  driven  out  of  the  colony.^ 

1  Soon  after  Mr.  Rodgers  reached  Williamsburg,  one  of  the  Es- 
tablished clergy  of  Hanover,  who  had  followed  him,  appeared  be- 
fore Sir  William  Gooch  and  complained  that  this  young  gentleman 
before  going  to  Williamsburg  had  preached  one  sermon  in  Han- 
over contrary  to  law,  urging  Sir  William  to  proceed  against  him 
with  rigor.     Sir  William's  reply  did  equal  honor  to  his  religious 

sentiments  and  his  official  liberality :  "  Mr. ,  I  am  surprised 

at  you.  You  profess  to  be  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  you 
come  to  me  to  complain  of  a  man  and  wish  me  to  punish  him  for 
preaching  the  gospel !  For  shame,  sir !  Go  home  and  mind  your 
own  duty.  For  such  a  piece  of  conduct  you  deserve  to  have  your 
gown  stript  over  your  shoulders." — Dr.  Miller's  Life  of  Dr.  John 
Kodgers,  p.  54. 

See  the  noble  vindication  of  himself  by  Mr.  Davies,  addressed 
under  date  nth  May,  1751,  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  in  the 
Princeton  Repertory  for  1840. 


124  THE  PEESBYTEBJAN   CJHUBCH 

Throughout  this  region  Samuel  Davies  continued  to 
preach  with  apostolic  zeal,  wearing  out  his  frail 
body  by  extraordinary  fatigues  and  exposures,  till 
called  for  the  short  remainder  of  his  brilliant  career 
to  succeed  Jonathan  Edwards  in  the  presidency  of 
the  College  of  New  Jersey.' 

Other  Presbyterian  missionaries  followed  Mr. 
Robinson  into  Virginia.  Congregations  were 
gathered  and  churches  organized;  and  on  the  3d  of 
October,    I7i>  the  Synod  of  New  York,  reaching 

1  The  just  and  elegant  inscription  on  his  tombstone  in  the 
Princeton  cemetery,  perhaps  from  the  classical  pen  of  Samuel 
Finley,  who  succeeded  him  so  soon  in  the  presidency  and  was  so 
soon  laid  beside  him  in  the  grave,  is  as  follows : — 

"  Sub  hoc  marmore  sepulchrali,  mortales  exuviae  reverendi  per- 
quam  viri  Samuel  Davies,  A.  M.,  collegii  nov  csssariensis  prsesidis, 
futurum  Domini  adventum  prasstolantur.  Ne  te,  viator,  ut  pauca 
de  tanto  tamque  dilecto  viro  resciscas,  paulisper  morari  pigeat. 
Natus  est  in  comitatu  de  New  Castle  juxta  Delaware  3  Novembris, 
anno  salutis  reparatse,  1724.  S.  N.  Sacris  ibidem  initiatus,  19 
Februarii,  1747,  tutelam  pastoralem  ecclesias  in  comitatu  de  Han- 
over Virginiensium  suscepit.  Ibi  per  II  plus  minus  annos  ministri 
evangelici  labonbus  indefesse  et  favente  numine  auspicate  per- 
functus,  ad  munus  prDSsidiale  collegii  nov  csesariensis  gerendum 
vocatus  est,  et  inauguratus,  26  Julii,  1759,  S.  N.  Sed,  proh  rerum 
inane,  intra  biennium  febre  correptus,  candidam  animam  coelo 
redidit,  4  Februarii,  1761.  Heu  !  quam  exiguum  vitae  curriculum  ! 
Corpore  fuit  eximis ;  gestu  liberali,  placido,  augusto.  Ingenii  nitore, 
morum  integritate,  munificentia,  facilitate,  inter  paocus  illustris. 

Rei  literariai  peritus  ;  tlieologus  promptust,  perspicax.  In 
rostris,  per  eloquium  blandum,  mellitum,  vehemens  simul  et  per- 
stringens,  nulli  secundus.  Scriptor  ornatus,  sublimis,  disertus. 
Proesertim  viro  pietale  ardente  in  Deum  zelo  et  religione  spectan- 
dus." — Alden's  American  Epitaphs,  Pentade  I,  vol.  i,  Art.  155. 


AND   RELIGIOUS   LIBERTY  125 

over  into  Virginia,  ordered  tine  erection  of  a  new 
presbytery  by  the  name  of  the  Presbytery  of  Han- 
over. The  original  members  were  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Davies,  John  Todd,  Alexander  Craighead,  Robert 
Henry,  John  Wright  and  John  Brown.  The  first 
meeting  was  appointed  to  be  held  in  Hanover,  and 
opened  with  a  sermon  by  Mr.  Davies. 

This  was  the  presbytery  that  now  came  forward 
to  maintain  against  the  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry 
and  the  zeal  of  Peyton  Randolph  the  imperiled 
cause  of  religious  liberty.  In  the  most  energetic 
terms  they  rejected  for  themselves,  and  reprobated 
for  all  others,  any  share  in  the  proceeds  of  so  ill- 
omened  and  illegitimate  a  partnership.  They  drew 
with  a  firm  hand  the  line  of  demarkation  between 
the  functions  of  the  Church  and  the  State;  showed 
the  uselessness  as  well  as  the  danger  of  attempting 
to  support  public  worship  by  compulsory  taxation; 
and  insisted  that  any  such  measure  was  but  the  be- 
ginning of  a  usurpation,  the  end  of  which  no  man 
could  determine.  "  These  consequences,"  they  said 
in  conclusion,  "are  so  plain  as  not  to  be  denied; 
and  they  are  so  entirely  subversive  of  religious 
liberty,  that  if  they  should  take  place  in  Virginia  we 
should  be  reduced  to  the  melancholy  necessity  of 
saying  with  the  apostles  in  like  cases,  'Judge  ye 
whether  it  is  best  to  obey  God  or  men,'  and  also  of 
acting  as  they  acted," 


126  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

"  Therefore,  as  it  is  contrary  to  our  principles  and 
interest,  and  as  we  think  subversive  of  rehgious 
liberty,  we  do  again  most  earnestly  entreat  that  our 
legislature  would  never  extend  any  assessment  for 
religious  purposes  to  us  or  to  the  congregations 
under  our  care." 

This  vigorous  protest  decided  the  question  for 
the  time,  and  on  the  third  reading  the  bill  was  re- 
jected. 

One  other  brief  struggle  remained.  The  idea  of 
the  necessity  of  a  union  of  Church  and  State  in 
some  form  had  been  so  wrought  into  the  Virginia 
mind,  and  the  members  of  the  old  dominant  Church 
reconciled  themselves  with  so  much  difficulty  to  a 
simple  equality  with  other  sects,  that  on  the  conclu- 
sion of  peace  they  came  forward  with  a  new  at- 
tempt to  recover  their  lost  prerogatives.  The  pro- 
ject for  a  general  assessment  for  religious  purposes 
was  revived,  and  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  legis- 
lature for  securing  to  the  Episcopal  Church  all  the 
property,  glebe  lands,  etc.,  it  had  received  from  the 
State  before  the  Revolution.  This  involved  the  re- 
building by  public  tax  of  all  decayed  or  destroyed 
parish  churches,  the  restoration  of  all  sequestered 
church  effects,  and  possibly  also  the  payment  of  all 
arrears  of  clerical  salaries. 

The  legislature  of  Virginia  was,  to  a  considerable 
extent,    a   system   of    pocket   boroughs.     The   old 


AND  RELIGIOUS  LIBFAiTY  127 

hereditary  legislators,  the  Nicholases,  Randolphs, 
Lees,  Pendletons,  etc.,  had  all  been  connected  with 
the  Established  Church.  They  received  the  bill 
with  great  favor,  and  there  was  danger  of  its  being 
rushed  through  in  advance  of  any  resistance.  But 
the  ever-vigilant  Presbytery  of  Hanover  again  came 
to  the  front  and  threw  themselves  into  the  breach. 
They  had  grown  into  veterans  in  the  service  of  relig- 
ious liberty,  and  shrunk  from  no  conflict.  A 
prompt,  decided  remonstrance  from  them  brought 
the  legislature  to  a  pause. 

The  Presbyterian  clergy  seized  the  opportunity 
to  act  in  mass.  They  came  together  in  conven- 
tion, adopted  a  new  memorial  and  sent  Dr.  John 
Blair  Smith,  one  of  the  most  honored  names  in 
the  history  of  the  Church,  to  lay  it  before  the 
House  of  Delegates.  His  argument  of  three 
days'  duration  settled  the  question  finally  and 
forever.  The  bill  was  dropped,  never  to  be 
revived. 

This  sounded  the  death  knell  of  all  Church 
establishment  in  America.  Other  States  followed 
or  walked  pari  passu  with  Virginia  in  the  work  of 
reform.  With  conTparatively  little  resistance  the 
union  of  Church  and  State  was  swept  from  the 
statute  books  of  Delaware  and  Maryland,  of  New 
York,  of  North  and  South  Carolina  and  Georgia; 
and  religion,   released  from  all  trammels  of  human 


128  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

imposition,  walked  free  and  majestic  in  our  emanci- 
pated States. 

I  cannot  but  lament  that  the  name  of  that  heroic 
presbytery,  which  stood  foremost  in  the  battle  by 
which  this  victory  was  won,  has,  for  the  present, 
disappeared  from  our  roll.  Well  may  we  be  proud 
of  a  church  that  walked  upright  and  unfaltering  in 
the  path  of  freedom  when  Patrick  Henry  stumbled. 

With  this  defensive  victory  the  Presbytery  of 
Hanover  was  content.  The  Episcopal  Church 
indeed  still  retained  a  large  amount  of  property, 
real  and  movable,  which  had  been  acquired  by  the 
proceeds  of  a  general  tax  on  all  the  inhabitants; 
particulaily  the  glebe  lands,  of  which  most  of  the 
parishes  in  Virginia  were  possessed  to  the  extent 
of  not  less  than  two  hundred  acres  each.  The  first 
General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  after  the  adoption  of 
the  State  Constitution  in  October,  1776,  ordained 
"that  there  shall  in  all  time  coming  be  saved  and 
reserved  to  the  use  of  the  Church  by  law  estab- 
lished, the  several  tracts  of  glebe  lands  already 
purchased,  the  churches  and  chapels  already  built, 
and  such  as  were  begun  or  contracted  for  before 
the  passing  of  the  said  act  for  the  use  of  the 
parishes;  all  books,  plate  and  ornaments  belonging 
to  or  appropriated  to  the  use  of  the  said  church,  and 
all  ariears  of  money  or  tobacco  arising  from  former 
assessments  or  otherwise." 


AND   RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  129 

This  act  recognized  tine  Episcopal  Ciuirch  as 
still  "established  by  law,"  and  preserved  to  it  in 
perpetuity  the  ownership  of  the  glebe  lands  and 
other  church  property  possessed  before  the  Revolu- 
tion. Being  simply  an  act  of  the  legislature,  it  was 
of  course  liable  to  repeal  by  any  subsequent  assem- 
bly; and  considering  their  previous  experience,  it 
is  not  strange  that  other  denominations  should  view 
with  jealousy  the  slightest  appearance  of  any 
concession  of  peculiar  advantages  to  the  Episcopal 
Church. 

But  it  was  not  the  Presbyterians  who  came 
forward  to  prosecute  the  quarrel  against  her.  It 
was  another  body  of  Christians,  the  Baptists,  who 
in  their  previous  unorganized  condition  had  suf- 
fered even  more  than  Presbyterians  from  the  laws 
against  sectarian  and  unlicensed  worship,  that  now, 
in  their  hour  of  triumph,  turned  against  their  late 
persecutors. 

it  was  the  "Baptists  and  their  abettors"  who 
urged  the  resumption  by  the  State  of  the  Chuch 
lands.  This  object  they  prosecuted  year  after  year 
with  unabated  determination,  until,  in  1801,  success 
crowned  their  efforts  and  the  glebes  were  publicly 
sold. 

Dr.  Baird  maintains  that  this  act  of  confiscation 
was  unconstitutional,  and  adds  that  "  the;opposition 
to    the    Episcopal   Church  toward   the  end  of  the 


130  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

century  was  marked  by  a  cruelty  which  admits  of 
no  apology."  ' 

Not  throwing  any  doubt  whatever  on  the  correct- 
ness of  these  opinions,  we  may  yet  observe  that 
none  of  the  melancholy  consequences  apprehended 
by  the  Episcopal  clergy  followed  this  spoliation. 
The  glebes  had  been  of  little  or  no  value  to  them. 
They  consisted  often  of  wild  and  unproductive 
lands.  The  advantage  of  being  relieved  from  the 
odium  of  depending  in  any  way  on  State  bounty 
greatly  overbalanced  the  small  material  loss.  The 
laity  came  up  to  the  demands  of  the  voluntary 
system  and  assumed,  no  doubt  cheerfully,  the  sup- 
port of  their  own  clergy.  The  character  of  the 
latter  und-erwent  a  great  and  beneficent  revolution. 
Purified  by  trials  and  led  (after  1827)  by  their 
excellent  prelate.  Bishop  Meade,  they  took  on  that 
devout,  exemplary,  evangelical  type  which  has 
always  since  characterized  the  Virginia  clergy. 

'  Baird's  Religion  in  America,  I.,  iii ;  Collections  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Historical  Society  for  185 1,  pp.  166-18 1. 

The  Address  of  the  Rector  of  Antrim  Parish,  on  the  proposed 
sale  of  the  glebes  in  Virginia,  is  a  modest  and  pathetic  document, 
and  serves  to  show  how  sweet  are  the  uses  of  adversity  for  churches 
as  well  as  for  individuals. 


AND  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  131 


IV 


Internal  view  of  the  church  from  the  close  of  the 

WAR   TO   the    adoption    OF   THE  NEW  CONSTITUTION, 
I783-I786 

It  remains  to  add  a  brief  outline  of  the  history  of 
the  synod  from  the  close  of  the  war  to  the  close  of 
its  own  career  as  the  chief  court  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

Articles  of  peace  between  Great  Britain  and  her 
revolted  colonies  were  signed  at  Paris,  November 
30,  1782.  The  war  had  virtually  terminated  a  year 
before  by  the  surrender  at  Yorktown  of  the  last 
British  army  on  the  soil  of  America.  The  synod  of 
1783  met  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  undisturbed  by 
any  apprehensions  of  being  abruptly  adjourned  to 
Bedminster  or  elsewhere  by  the  approach  of  hostile 
forces.  The  attendance  was  small.  The  pastors 
were  like  men  who  had  just  escaped  a  great  dis- 
aster, and  were  busied  in  gathering  together  their 
scattered  effects  and  studying  to  repair  the  ruin. 
Money  was  wanting  for  the  expenses  of  travel. 
The  irredeemable  paper  currency  had  sunk  to  only 
a  nominal  value.  It  may  be  mentioned  in  illustration 
that  the  janitor  who  waited  on  the  synod  received 
for  his  services  three  dollars  in  specie,  which  seems 
to  have  been  regarded  as  equivalent  to  two  hundred 


132  FROM  THE  CLOSE   OF  THE    WAR 

dollars  continental  currency,  the  amount  that  was 
paid  the  janitor  the  year  previous. 

The  synod  at  once  applied  itself  to  the  work  of 
repairing  the  spiritual  desolations  caused  by  the 
war.  They  passed  the  emphatic  disclaimer,  already 
referred  to,  of  any  wish  for  advantages  over  their 
brethren  of  other  denominations.  They  sent  out  to 
the  churches  a  pastoral  letter  of  congratulation  and 
warning  on  the  success  of  the  American  arms. 

"We  cannot  help  congratulating  you,"  they  say, 
"  on  the  general  and  almost  universal  attachment  of 
the  Presbyterian  body  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and 
the  rights  of  mankind.  This  has  been  visible  in 
their  conduct,  and  has  been  confessed  by  the  com- 
plaints and  resentment  of  the  common  enemy. 
Such  a  circumstance  ought  not  only  to  afford  us 
satisfaction  on  the  review,  as  bringing  credit  to  the 
body  in  general,  but  to  increase  our  gratitude  to 
God  for  the  happy  issue  of  the  war.  Had  it  been 
unsuccessful,  we  must  have  drunk  deeply  of  the 
cup  of  suffering.  Our  burnt  and  wasted  churches, 
and  our  plundered  dwellings,  in  such  places  as  fell 
under  the  power  of  our  adversaries,  are  but  an 
earnest  of  what  we  must  have  suffered  had  they 
finally  prevailed. 

"The  synod,  therefore,  request  you  to  render 
thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  all  his  mercies,  spiritual 
and  temporal,  and  in  a  particular  manner  for  estab- 


TO  ADOPTION  OF  NEW  CONSTITUTION        133 

lishing  the  independence  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  He  is  the  supreme  Disposer,  and  to  him 
belong  the  glory,  the  victory  and  the  majesty.  We 
are  persuaded  you  will  easily  recollect  many  cir- 
cumstances in  the  course  of  the  struggle  which 
point  out  his  special  and  signal  interposition  in  our 
favor.  Our  most  remarkable  successes  have  gen- 
erally been  when  things  had  just  before  worn  the 
most  unfavorable  aspect,  as  at  Trenton  and  Sara- 
toga at  the  beginning,  in  South  Carolina  and 
Virginia  toward  the  end,  of  the  war."  They 
specify  among  other  mercies  the  assistance  derived 
from  France,  and  the  happy  selection  '*of  a  com- 
mander in  chief  of  the  armies  of  the  United  States, 
who,  in  this  important  and  difficult  charge,  has 
given  universal  satisfaction,  who  was  alike  accept- 
able to  the  citizen  and  the  soldier,  to  the  State  in 
which  he  was  born  and  to  every  other  on  the  con- 
tinent, and  whose  character  and  influence,  after  so 
long  service,  are  not  only  unimpaired  but  aug- 
mented." ^ 

The  scarcity  of  copies  of  the  Bible  had  long  been 
felt  as  a  serious  evil.  The  colonies  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  depend  on  the  mother  country  for  a  sup- 
ply, and  during  the  war  this  source  had  been  cut 
off.  An  edition  of  the  Scriptures  was,  for  their 
feeble  typographical  resources,  an  immense  under- 

1  Hodge's  IIisto7-y  of  the  Preshytei'iau  Church,  ii,  495, 


134  FROM   THE   CLOSE   OF   THE    WAR 

taking.  But  in  1781  an  enterprising  Philadelphia 
printer,  Robert  Aitkin,  had  successfully  accom- 
plished it,  and  both  religious  and  patriotic  motives 
led  the  synod  warmly  to  second  the  effort.  "  Tak- 
ing into  consideration  the  situation  of  many  people 
under  their  care  who,  through  the  indigence  of 
their  circumstances,  are  not  able  to  purchase  Bibles 
and  are  in  danger  of  perishing  for  lack  of  knowl- 
edge," they  ordered  contributions  to  be  made  for 
this  purpose  in  all  congregations,  and  appointed  a 
committee  to  receive  and  apply  them.  "  And  as 
Mr.  Aitkin,  from  laudable  motives  and  with  great 
expense,  hath  undertaken  and  executed  an  elegant 
impression  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  on  ac- 
count of  the  importation  of  Bibles  from  Europe  will 
be  very  injurious  to  his  temporal  circumstances, 
synod  further  agree  that  the  said  committee  shall 
purchase  Bibles  of  the  said  impression  and  no  other; 
and  earnestly  recommend  it  to  all  to  purchase  such 
in  preference  to  any  other." 

Whatever  brings  appropriately  into  view  the 
character  of  that  illustrious  chief  whom  Providence 
had  indeed  preserved,  as  Davies  prophetically  saw, 
''for  some  important  service  to  his  country,"  and 
who  had  shown  in  his  own  example  "  how  noble 
a  virtue  is  patience,  and  how  sure,  when  rightly 
exercised,  of  its  own  reward,"  will  be  regarded  as 
suitable  for  these  pages. 


TO  ADOPTIUX  OF  XFAV  CONSTITUTION        135 

Dr.  John  Rodgers  had  served  during  a  part  of  the 
war  as  chaplain  of  Heath's  brigade.  The  Christian 
philanthropy  and  the  resources  of  more  recent 
times  have  provided  that  no  soldier,  even  of  such 
vast  armies  as  those  which  crushed  the  French  Em- 
pire in  1870,  shall  be  unfurnished  with  at  least  the 
New  Testament  Scriptures.  But  beyond  the  preach- 
ing of  the  chaplain,  the  revolutionary  troops  enjoyed 
no  means  w^hatever  for  religious  instruction.  As 
the  disbanding  of  the  army  was  at  hand,  Dr. 
Rodgers  earnestly  desired  that  each  soldier  should 
receive  as  a  parting  gift  from  his  country  a  copy  of 
the  word  of  life.  The  i2mo  edition  of  Mr.  Aitkin, 
just  before  issued,  furnished  the  opportunity,  and 
Dr.  Rodgers  addressed  a  letter  to  General  Washing- 
ton congratulating  him  on  the  restoration  of  peace 
and  soliciting  his  cooperation  in  cariying  out  this 
scheme.     General  Washington  replied  as  follows: — 

"Headquarters,  nth  June,  1783. 

"Dear  Sir:  I  accept,  with  much  pleasure,  your 
kind  congratulations  on  the  happy  event  of  peace, 
with  the  establishment  of  our  liberties  and  inde- 
pendence. 

•'  Glorious  indeed  has  been  our  contest — glorious 
if  we  consider  the  prize  for  which  we  have  con- 
tended, and  glorious  in  its  issue.  But  in  the  midst 
of  our  joys,  I  hope  we  shall  not  forget  that  to 
divine  Providence  is  to  be  ascribed  the  glory  and 
praise. 

"Your  proposition  respecting  Mr.  Aitkin's  Bible 
would  have  been  particularly  noticed  by  me  had  it 


136  FROM   THE   i'LO.^E   UF   THE    WAR 

been  suggested  in  season.  But  the  late  resolution 
of  Congress  for  discharging  part  of  the  army,  taking 
off  near  two-thirds  of  our  members,  it  is  now  too 
late  to  make  the  attempt.  It  would  have  pleased 
me  well  if  Congress  had  been  pleased  to  make  such 
an  important  present  to  the  brave  fellows  who  have 
done  so  much  for  the  security  of  their  country's 
right  and  establishment. 

"  I  hope  it  will  not  be  long  before  you  will  be 
able  to  go  quietly  to  New  York.  Some  patience, 
however,  will  yet  be  necessary.  But  patience  is  a 
noble  virtue,  and  when  rightly  exercised,  does  not 
fail  of  its  reward. 

"With  much  regard  and  esteem,  1  am,  dear 
doctor, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"Go.  Washington." 

The  synod  also  entered  on  measures  for  securing 
uniformity  in  the  public  praise  of  the  Church.  A 
committee  was  appointed  to  compare  all  the  extant 
versions  of  psalmody  and  digest  from  them  "one 
more  suitable  to  our  circumstances  and  taste  than 
any  we  have  got;"  a  scheme  which  has  only  been 
successfully  carried  out  in  our  own  immediate 
times. 

Action  in  regard  to  marriage  within  the  prohib- 
ited degrees,  as  supposed  to  be  defined  by  the  Le- 
vitical  law;  in  regard  to  slavery  and  the  baptism  of 
slave  children;  in  regard  to  the  demission  of  the 
ministry  (refusing  to  permit  the  names  of  secularized 
ministers  to  be  dropped  from  the  roll);  in  regard  to 
the  pastoral  visitation  of  common  schools  (inviting 


TO   ADOPTION  OF  NEW  CON.sTITLTJON        IM 

Other  churches  to  cooperate  in  this  work);  cate- 
chetical instruction  in  families,  etc.,— was  taken 
during  these  years. 

The  formation  of  new  presbyteries  broadened  the 
geographical  area  of  the  Church;  and  it  was  found 
impossible  in  the  condition  of  peace,  as  it  had  been 
during  the  disturbance  of  war,  to  secure  the  attend- 
ance of  the  remoter  members.  So  long  as  it  was 
made  the  business  of  no  one  in  particular  to  attend, 
whole  presbyteries  were  not  infrequently  absent. 

It  was  quite  natural,  therefore,  that  attention 
should  now  be  directed  to  the  necessity  of  perfect- 
ing the  organization  of  the  Church,  by  providing 
for  a  representative  assembly  to  be  constituted  of 
elected  deleo^ates.  The  thirteen  States  were  occu- 
pied  with  this  question  at  the  same  time  with  the 
thirteen  presbyteries;  and  the  preliminaries  for  a 
General  Assembly  and  a  Federal  Congress  went  on 
pari  passu.  This  measure  was  first  brought  before 
the  synod  by  an  overture  in  1785,  and  was  made  a 
special  order  for  the  year  following,  all  the  pres- 
byteries being  notified  and  expressly  charged  to 
attend.' 

At  the  time  fixed — viz.,  at  the  sederunt  of  the 

'  The  thirteen  presbyteries  at  that  time  were  New  York,  New 
Brunswick,  First  Philadelphia,  Second  Philadelphia,  New  Castle, 
Donegal,  Lewes,  Hanover,  Orange,  Dutchess,  Suffolk,  Redstone 
and  South  Carolina. 


138  FROM  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE    WAR 

19th  of  May,  1786 — after  full  discussion  it  was  re- 
solved that,  "considering  the  number  and  extent 
of  the  churches  under  our  care,  and  the  inconve- 
nience of  the  present  mode  of  government  by  one 
synod,  this  synod  will  establish  out  of  its  own  body 
three  or  more  subordinate  synods,  out  of  which 
shall  be  composed  a  General  Assembly,  synod  or 
council,  agreeably  to  a  system  hereafter  to  be 
adopted." 

At  this  point  the  present  chapter  closes.  The 
successful  carrying  out  of  this  important  measure, 
the  new  impulse  given  by  it  to  the  growth  of  the 
Church,  her  subsequent  trials  and  triumphs,  fall  to 
be  related  by  another  hand. 

A  few  miscellaneous  remarks  may  be  allowed  in 
conclusion. 

The  Presbyterian  clergy  of  the  Revolutionary 
period  were  well-educated  men.  Almost  without 
exception  they  were  graduates  of  American  or  for- 
eign colleges.  The  era  of  modern  science  had  not 
yet  dawned,  and  a  far  larger  proportion  of  the  col- 
lege curriculum  than  now  consisted  of  drill  in  the 
elements  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages.  French 
and  German  were  almost  entirely  unknown.  The 
Latin  was  still  to  a  considerable  extent  the  common 
language  in  which  educated  men  of  different  nations 
did  or  might  communicate  with  each  other.     Latin 


TO  ADOPTIOX  OF  XEW  CONSTITUTION        139 

epistolary  correspondence  was  still  not  wholly  obso- 
lete. Latin  epitaphs  were  still  almost  universal  for 
scholars,  and  the  official  proceedings  at  college 
commencements  were  conducted  entirely  in  that 
language.  The  ability  to  read  and  write  Latin  was 
therefore  a  necessary  part  of  the  culture  of  a  Pres- 
byterian clergyman,  and  it  was  with  justice  and 
reason  that  candidates  for  the  ministry  were  re- 
quired to  present  among  other  "trial-pieces"  a 
Latin  exegesis  on  some  common  head  in  divinity. 
This  they  were  quite  competent  to  do  with  integ- 
rity and  with  reasonable  correctness  of  style.  The 
surviving  Latin  compositions  of  the  time  are  not  in- 
ferior to  those  of  the  contemporaneous  English  or 
Continental  scholars.  The  very  different  distribu- 
tion of  the  students'  time  in  our  present  academical 
and  college  course,  and  the  introduction  of  the 
modern  languages  as  media  of  communication  be- 
tween alien  scholars,  sufficiently  explains  the  decay 
of  Latin  scholarship  among  us.  That  few  candi- 
dates for  the  Presbyterian  ministry  are  now  able  to 
compose  correctly  in  the  Latin  language,  and  that 
the  exegesis  still  required  of  them  furnishes  no  test 
whatever  (except  a  negative  one)  of  their  acquaint- 
ance with  thatjanguage,  is  notorious;  yet  out  of 
regard  to  the  supposed  requirement  of  the  Form  of 
Government,  and  in  oversight  of  the  alternative 
permission  to  employ  "  iliese  or  other  siuiilar  exer- 


140  FR03I  THE   CLOSE   OF   THE    WAR 

cises  "  as  tests  of  the  candidate's  literary  fitness  for 
the  ministry,  it  is  still  commonly  insisted  on. 
Surely  the  time  has  come  for  dispensing  with  a 
measure  which  is  both  futile  and  fraudulent,  and 
tends  to  throw  ridicule  on  the  serious  business  of 
licensing  candidates  to  preach  the  gospel. 

The  pulpit  style  of  the  Presbyterian  clergy  of  a 
hundred  years  ago  presents  generally  a  good  ex- 
ample of  strong,  plain,  undefiled  English.  It  was 
wholly  free  from  those  affectations  and  tricks  of 
speech  by  which  feebleness  of  thought  is  sometimes 
attempted  to  be  disguised.  The  prose  of  Dean  Swift, 
of  Addison  and  the  English  divines  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  was  their  standard.  When  Samuel 
Johnson,  with  his  customary  suavity,  said  to  Dr. 
John  Ewing,  "  Sir,  what  do  yon  know  in  America  ? 
You  never  read.  You  have  no  books  there."  "Par- 
don me,  sir,"  was  the  reply,  "we  have  read  the 
Rambler; "  which  was  doubtless  true  to  a  limited 
extent;  but  the  inflated  periods  of  that  writer  were 
no  more  to  the  taste  of  American  scholars  than  his 
exaggerated  toryism.  During  the  hundred  years 
that  have  since  passed,  the  language  has  undergone 
no  change.  In  the  works  of  Dr.  Rodgers,  Stanhope 
Smith,  Samuel  Finley  and  their  brethren,  not  a  word 
will  be  found  that  is  not  now  in  good  pulpit  use. 
The  sermons  of  Samuel  Davies  might  be  preached 
to-day,  and  only  excite  surprise  for  the  somewhat 


TO  ADOPTION  OF  NEW  CONSTITUTION        141 

elaborate  eloquence  of  the  style,  and  the  extraordi- 
nary force  and  pungency  of  their  dealing  with  the 
conscience.  Indeed,  it  was  only  in  the  colonial 
pulpit  that  the  evangelical  preaching  of  Howe  and 
Baxter  found  an  uninterrupted  succession.  The 
English  language  in  its  higher  purity  of  written  and 
spoken  use,  and  evangelical  preaching  in  its  fullest 
development,  came  across  the  sea  with  the  colo- 
nists, and  domiciled  themselves  here  by  the  altars  of 
liberty. 

The  church  architecture  of  the  Revolutionary 
period  in  America  was  of  course  of  a  rude  and 
simple  character.  The  natural  arches  of  the  forest, 
from  which  the  churches  were  hewn  by  the  axes 
of  the  worshipers,  as  well  as  the  heavy  pressure 
of  snow  which  the  roofs  were  each  winter  required 
to  sustain,  would  naturally  have  suggested  Gothic 
form.  But  scientificj^nowledge  of  architecture  was 
wholly  lacking  in  the  colonies;  with  each  new 
settlement  the  demand  for  a  sanctuary  was  imme- 
diate, and  the  people  satisfied  their  need  by  the 
same  hasty  carpentry  by  which  the  sons  of  the 
prophets  enlarged  their  accommodations  at  Gilgal. 
The  first  rough  log  churches  had  mostly  given  place 
a  hundred  years  ago  to  plain  white-painted  struc- 
tures, with  straight-backed  pews,  lofty  galleries  and 
a  pulpit  perched  halfway  between  the  floor  and  the 
celling.     Stove,    upholstery,  organ,  they  had  none. 


142  CHURCH  ARCHITECTURE 

Church  spires  were  by  no  means  common,  and 
bells  were  almost  unknown,  except  in  the  larger 
cities.  Even  in  New  York  an  Episcopal  congrega- 
tion was  indebted  to  the  Lutherans  for  the  loan  of  a 
church  bell. 

The  day  of  peace  and  freedom  had  begun.  The 
plowshare  of  war  had  broken  up  the  public  in- 
sensibility; the  sowers  went  forth  to  sow.  Divine 
influences  came  down  as  rain  upon  the  mown 
grass,  and  the  beneficent  fruits  of  revivals  of  re- 
ligion, missions  and  church  enterprise  of  every  kind 
began  to  appear. 


From   the  Adoption  of  the    Presbyte- 
rian   Form    of   Government  to  the  Re- 


union 


American  independence  has  been  achieved.  The 
colonies  have  taken  their  place  as  free  and  independ- 
ent States  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  In  bring- 
ing about  this  the  most  momentous  political  event 
of  the  last  century  the  ministry  and  laity  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  bore  an  essential  and  a  con- 
spicuous part.  These  men  were  the  descendants 
of  the  Huguenots  whose  blood,  shed  in  the  cause 
of  religious  freedom,  had  baptized  almost  every 
acre  of  France;  of  the  Dutch,  who  under  William 
the  Silent,  had  struggled  and  fought  against  civil 
and  religious  despotism  amidst  the  dikes  of  Holland; 
of  the  Scotchmen  who  signed  the  Covenant  with 
the  warm  blood  of  their  veins,  and  who  had  fought 
to  the  death  under  the  blue  banner  of  that  Cove- 
nant; of  the  heroes  whose  valor  at  Londonderry 
turned  the  scale  in  favor  of  the  Prince  of  Orange 
and  secured  the  Protestant  succession  in  England — 

143 


144      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM   OF   GOVERNMENT 

sons  of  the  women  who,  during  that  memorable 
siege,  carried  ammunition  to  the  soldiers,  and  in 
the  crisis  of  the  assault,  sprang  to  the  breach,  hurled 
back  the  assailants  and  turned  the  tide  of  battle  in 
the  critical,  imminent  moment  of  the  conflict. 

These  were  not  the  men  to  be  dazzled  by  specious 
pretexts,  or  to  stand  nicely  balancing  arguments  of 
expediency,  when  issues  touching  human  freedom 
were  at  stake.  These  were  not  the  men  to  barter 
away  their  birthright  for  pottage.  They  who  had 
endured  so  much  in  the  cause  of  freedom  in  the  Old 
World,  who,  for  its  sake,  had  left  all  and  braved  the 
perils  of  the  ocean  to  seek  a  refuge  in  the  forests  of 
an  unbroken  wilderness,  were  not  the  men  tamely 
to  submit  their  necks  to  the  yoke,  how  smoothly 
soever  it  might  be  fitted  for  them  by  the  deft  hands 
of  king.  Church  or  Parliament.  Consequently,  the 
Presbyterians  in  the  colonies  were  almost  to  a  man, 
and  to  a  woman,  patriots  'Mndeed,  in  whom  there 
was  no  guile." 

In  a  Presbyterian  community  not  far  from  the 
spot  where  the  first  blood  of  the  Revolution  was 
shed,  in  a  Presbyterian  convention  which  had  for 
its  presiding  officer  a  ruling  elder,  was  framed  and 
promulgated  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration,  which 
embodied  the  spirit  and  the  principles  of  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  and  which  antedates  that 
document  by  the  space  of  a  year  and  more;  and 


TO   THE  REUNION  145 

even  earlier  than  this,  within  the  bounds  of  old 
Redstone  Presbytery,  the  ''Westmoreland  Decla- 
ration "  was  made  at  Hanna's  Town,  in  Western 
Pennsylvania. 

None  in  all  the  land  better  understood  the  nature 
of  the  struggle,  or  more  thoroughly  appreciated  the 
importance  of  the  issue,  than  those  men.  They 
saw  in  the  impending  conflict  more  than  a  tax  on 
tea  or  a  penny  stamp  on  paper — more  even  than 
''taxation  without  representation."  In  addition  to 
political  tyranny  they  perceived  the  ominous  shadow 
of  spiritual  despotism,  which  threatened  to  darken 
the  land  to  which  they  had  tied  as  an  asylum,  and 
they  esteemed  their  fortunes  and  their  lives  a  cheap 
sacrifice  at  which  to  purchase  for  their  posterity  in 
succeeding  generations  the  blessings  of  religious 
freedom. 

into  the  struggle,  therefore,  they  threw  themselves 
heart  and  soul.  With  enthusiastic  devotion,  they 
put  at  the  service  of  their  country  the  last  penny  of 
their  substance  and  the  last  drop  of  their  blood. 
Wherever  a  Presbyterian  church  was  planted, 
wherever  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith 
found  adherents,  wherever  the  Presbyterian  polity 
was  loved  and  honored,  there  intelligent  and  pro- 
found convictions  in  regard  to  civil  and  religious 
liberty  were  developed  as  naturally  as  the  oak 
grows  from  the  acorn,  and  there,  when  the  crisis 


146      FROM  ADOFTION  FORM  OF  G0VERX2IEJST 

came,  strong  arms  and  stout  hearts  formed  an 
invulnerable  bulwark  for  the  cause  of  human  free- 
dom. As  the  Spartan  defended  his  shield,  as  the 
Roman  legions  fought  for  their  eagles,  as  a  chival- 
rous knight  leaped  to  the  rescue  of  his  sweetheart, 
so  our  Presbyterian  ancestors,  with  a  prodigal  valor 
and  an  unquenchable  ardor,  sprang  to  the  defense 
of  their  sacred  rights. 

An  adequate  history  of  their  services,  their  sacri- 
fices and  their  sufferings  has  never  been  written, 
and,  alas!  never  can  be  written  now.  No  monu- 
ments have  been  left  from  which  such  a  history 
can  be  compiled.  In  the  pulpit,  in  the  halls  of  the 
provincial  and  the  Continental  Congresses,  in  the 
army  as  chaplains  and  as  soldiers,  the  ministers 
rendered  invaluable  service  by  their  eloquence,  their 
wisdom,  their  learning,  their  courage  and  their 
example,  while  the  laity  took  into  the  ranks  a 
heroism  as  stalwart  as  that  of  the  Ironsides  of 
Cromwell.  Presbyterian  blood  from  shoeless  feet 
tracked  the  snow  at  Valley  Forge.  From  the 
Schuylkill  to  the  Chartiers  pulpits  rang  with  utter- 
ances which  were  at  once  scriptural  and  patriotic, 
and  which  were  so  sound  and  fearless  and  inspiring 
that  they  deserve  to  take  rank  in  the  series  of 
kindred  testimonies  in  the  Scottish  Church  borne  by 
such  men  as  Knox,  Buchanan,  Rutherford,  Brown 
of  Wamphry,  Cargill  and  Renwick.     These  utter- 


TO    THE  REUNION  147 

ances  embodied  principles  which,  emanating  from 
the  republic  of  Geneva,  consecrated  by  the  holiest 
blood  of  Scotland,  sheltered  and  defended  by 
more  than  Spartan  heroism  and  endurance  in  the 
forests  of  America,  now  underlie  the  institutions 
of  every  free  government  on  the  face  of  the  whole 
earth. 

Republicanism  is  Presbyterianism  in  the  State; 
so  that  in  the  victory  of  our  Revolutionary  fore- 
fathers there  was  a  triumph  of  principles  in  defense 
of  which  our  ancestors  in  the  ecclesiastical  line  had 
for  generations  poured  out  their  blood  like  water. 
These  principles  could  fmd  no  hospitable  or  con- 
genial home  in  Europe,  and  had  fled  for  refuge  to 
the  great  ocean-bound  wilderness  as  their  last 
hiding-place.  A  few  half-clad,  half-starved  and 
not  half-equipped  regiments  of  provincial  militia 
bore  the  ark  which  contained  the  charter  of  free- 
dom for  the  nations.  They  bore  it  bravely  and 
well,  and  when  the  clouds  of  war  drifted  away,  lo! 
there  stood  on  these  shores,  disclosed  to  the  gaze  of 
the  world,  a  Christian  republic  which,  as  a  pharos, 
flings  its  light  across  the  ocean  to  guide  the  foot- 
steps of  nations  in  the  path  of  liberty,  of  progress 
and  of  universal  brotherhood.  Every  civilized 
nation  on  the  globe  has  felt  the  throb  of  our  free 
life.  Over  the  ark  of  our  liberties  dwells  the 
political  shekinah  of  the  world,  to  which  all  the 


148      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

oppressed  shall  look,  and  guided  by  which  they 
shall  at  last  be  led  into  a  large  and  goodly  Canaan 
of  civil  and  religious  freedom. 

But  the  war  is  over.  The  transcendent  achieve- 
ment has  been  won.  After  seven  years  of  fierce 
and  bitter  struggle,  dove-eyed  Peace  has  spread 
over  the  land  her  shadowing  wings,  dripping  with 
celestial  benedictions.  The  inchoate  elements  of 
national  life  have  crystallized  into  a  compact  and 
symmetrical  republican  government.  The  colonies 
have  become  States  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  has  been  adopted. 

Owing  to  their  pronounced  and  intense  patriotism 
during  the  war,  the  Presbyterian  ministers  and 
churches  had  borne  the  brunt  of  the  fury  of  the 
enemy.  Pastors  were  driven  away  from  their 
flocks,  churches  were  turned  into  barracks  or 
stables,  and  in  many  instances  were  torn  down  or 
burned.  Congregations  left  without  pastors,  and 
exposed  to  all  the  deleterious  influences  of  war, 
were  scattered  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd. 
Many  churches  could  adopt  the  refrain  of  the 
prophet,  Zion  is  a  wilderness,  Jerusalem  a  desola- 
tion. Our  holy  and  our  beautiful  house,  where  our 
fathers  praised  thee,  is  burned  up  with  fire:  and 
all  our  pleasant  things  are  laid  zvaste. 

But  as  soon  as  the  sword  was  returned  to  its 
scabbard  the  Church  addressed  herself  to  the  task 


TO   THE  REUNION  149 

of  restoring  her  broken  walls,  building  up  her 
waste  places  and  gathering  her  scattered  sheep  to 
the  fold  again.  With  a  sublime  faith  and  an  un- 
erring intuition  she  divined  the  future  greatness  of 
the  nation,  and  hastened  to  make  such  adjustments 
in  her  polity  and  organization  as  would  enable 
her  to  meet  worthily  present  and  prospective  re- 
sponsibilities. 

The  complete  constitution  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  containing 
the  Confession  of  Faith,  the  catechisms,  the  govern- 
ment and  discipline,  and  the  directory  for  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  was  finally  ratified  and  adopted  by  the 
Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  in  the  year 
1788;  and  at  the  same  meeting  the  necessary  steps 
were  taken  toward  the  formation  of  a  General  As- 
sembly by  dividing  the  synod  into  four  synods,  and 
by  ordering  that  a  General  Assembly,  constituted 
out  of  the  ''said  four  synods,"  should  meet  in  Phila- 
delphia in  May  of  the  following  year. 

Thus  organized  and  equipped,  the  Church  stands 
abreast  of  the  new  era,  "  her  loins  girt  about 
with  truth,  her  feet  shod  with  the  preparation  of 
the  gospel  of  peace,"  in  her  hand  ''the  sword  of 
the  Spirit "  and  with  her  face  set  toward  the  West. 

The  first  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  met  in  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  city  of  Philadel- 


loU      FE(J3I  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

phia  on  May  21,  1789,  and  was  opened,  according 
to  the  appointment  of  synod,  with  a  sermon  by  Dr. 
Witherspoon. 

In  fancy  let  us  visit  this  small  but  august  body  of 
men. 

In  the  moderator's  chair  is  the  courtly  Dr. 
Rodgers,  and  at  the  clerk's  table  sits  the  chivalrous 
Duffield — whose  ancestors,  reaching  America  by  way 
of  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  had  their  Hugue- 
not blood  enriched  with  Puritanic  and  Covenant- 
ing ingredients — who  during  the  war  had  preached 
under  fire,  and  who,  along  with  Beatty,  had  braved 
the  perils  of  the  wilderness  in  crossing  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  in  order  to  set  up  the  standard  of  Presby- 
terianism  on  the  banks  of  the  Monongahela,  the 
Allegheny  and  the  Ohio,  and  to  proffer  the  blessings 
of  the  gospel  to  the  Indians  on  the  banks  of  the 
Muskingum.  On  the  floor  is  Dr.  Witherspoon,  of 
distinguished  presence  and  of  still  more  distin- 
guished achievement,  the  eminent  divine,  the  able 
statesman,  the  pure  and  valiant  patriot,  who  shone 
alike  conspicuously  in  the  pulpit,  on  the  floor  of 
Congress  and  in  the  president's  chair,  in  whose 
veins  ran  the  blood  of  John  Knox,  and  whose 
whole  life  proved  him  to  be  a  worthy  descendant 
of  the  great  Scottish  Reformer.  Beside  him,  and 
coming  from  the  same  presbytery  (New  Brunswick), 
and  destined  to  be  his  successor  in  the  presidency 


TO   THE  REUNION  151 

of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  is  the  eloquent  and 
learned  Dr.  Stanhope  Smith,  the  founder  of 
Hampden-Sidney  College,  now  in  the  fullness  of  his 
marvelous  powers  and  at  the  zenith  of  his  splendid 
fame,  whose  oratory  recalled  the  grandeur  of  Davies 
and  did  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  that  of  Patrick 
Henry. 

There,  too,  is  the  polyhistoric,  the  encyclopedic 
scholar,  the  profound  divine,  the  accomplished  prov- 
ost of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  Dr.  Ewing, 
who  on  an  hour's  notice  could  lecture  on  any  sub- 
ject in  the  curriculum  of  the  university,  who  was 
the  peer  of  Rittenhouse  in  mathematics,  and  who  in 
conversation  could  keep  old  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  at 
bay.  From  Baltimore  comes  the  renowned  Dr. 
Patrick  Allison,  who  went  to  that  place  when  it 
contained  only  thirty  or  forty  houses,  and  in  a  log 
hut  had  preached  to  a  congregation  of  six  families, 
but  whose  usefulness  and  reputation  grew  with  the 
growth  of  the  city,  until,  as  a  preacher,  a  presbyter 
and  an  accomplished  and  fearless  controversialist, 
no  one  stood  above  him,  and  of  whom  Dr.  Stanhope 
Smith  said,  ''Dr.  Allison  is  decidedly  the  ablest 
statesman  we  have  in  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church."  There,  too,  is  Cooper, 
one  of  the  Apostles  of  the  Cumberland  Valley,  a 
valiant  military  as  well  as  spiritual  leader;  and  the 
ungainly  but  saintly  Moses  Hoge,  of  Virginia,  who, 


152      FROM  ADOPTION  FOIiJI  OF  GOVERNMENT 

destitute  of  the  natural  gifts  and  graces  of  oratory, 
so  moved  men  by  his  "blood  earnestness"  that  John 
Randolph  said,  ''  That  man  is  the  best  of  orators;  " 
and  McWhorter,  who  had  been  the  chaplain  of 
Knox's  brigade,  and  who  in  the  darkest  hour  of 
the  Revolution  hastened  to  headquarters  to  encour- 
age the  commander  in  chief;  and  Azel  Roe,  who 
inspired  a  cowardly  regiment  with  courage  and 
then  led  them  into  battle,  and  who  was  as  full  of 
humor  as  he  was  of  courage  and  patriotism;  and 
Latta,  who  with  blanket  and  knapsack  had  accom- 
panied members  of  his  church  to  the  camp  and  the 
battle  field;  and  Dr.  Sproat,  in  the  pastorate  the  suc- 
cessor of  Gilbert  Tennent  and  the  predecessor  of 
Ashbel  Green;  and  Dr.  Robert  Smith,  who  at  the 
age  of  fifteen,  having  caught  the  spirit  of  Whitefield 
and  having  consecrated  all  the  strength  of  a  vigorous 
body  to  the  work  of  preaching  the  gospel,  was 
abundant  in  labors,  and  with  his  hand  on  the  plow 
never  once  looked  back;  and  Dr.  Thomas  Read, 
whose  extensive  missionary  labors  in  the  wilds  of 
Delaware  gave  him  so  accurate  a  knowledge  of  the 
roads,  paths  and  bypaths  of  the  region,  that  he  was 
the  only  man  who  could  extricate  Washington  and 
his  army  from  the  perilous  position  which  they 
occupied  at  Stanton,  before  the  battle  of  Brandy- 
wine,  so  that  the  modest  pastor  of  Drawyer's  Creek 
may   be   denominated  the  saviour  of  his  country; 


TO    THE   REUNION  153 

and  the  genial  Dr.  Matthew  Wilson,  who  was  both 
a  divine  and  a  physician  and  eminent  in  both  pro- 
fessions,— good  men  and  true,  all  of  them,  who  had 
"endured  hardness  as  good  soldiers"  both  in  the 
cause  of  Christ  and  for  their  country. 

In  point  of  numbers  this  assembly  was  not  large, 
there  being  on  the  roll  only  thirty-four  commission- 
ers, representing  thirteen  presbyteries,  but  in  point 
of  dignity,  learning,  ability,  zeal  and  experience  it 
compares  favorably  with  any  of  its  many  illustrious 
successors.  An  able  committee,  raised  for  the  pur- 
pose, reported  fifteen  rules  for  the  government  of 
the  body,  which  have  since  been  supplemented  but 
never  improved,  so  that  substantially  these  are  the 
rules  by  which,  to  this  day,  the  General  Assembly 
has  been  governed.  Drs.  Witherspoon,  Allison  and 
Stanhope  Smith,  the  ablest  committee  which  the 
Assembly  could  command,  drew  up  an  address  to 
George  Washington,  President  of  the  United  States, 
which  address,  as  a  document,  is  worthy  of  the 
genius  and  eloquence  of  these  three  illustrious  men, 
and  which,  while  it  has  nothing  in  it  of  the  cringing 
servility  and  sycophancy  which  are  begotten  of  the 
adulterous  union  of  Church  and  State,  is  yet,  at  the 
same  time,  a  dignified  and  loyal  acknowledgment 
of  the  "  powers  that  be  "  as  "ordained  of  God." 

Regarding  with  apprehension  the  fact  that  many 
of  the  presbyteries  had  failed  to  send  commissioners, 


154      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

and  thoroughly  comprehending  the  importance  of 
holding  together  the  widely-separated  parts  of  the 
Church  by  a  common  bond,  and  being  as  jealous 
against  schism  as  the  Israelites  were  when  they 
went  posting  to  Shiloh  to  demand  of  the  trans- 
Jordanic  tribes  an  explanation  of  the  altar  of  wit- 
ness, the  Assembly  adopted  a  circular  letter  **  urging 
in  the  most  earnest  manner  the  respective  synods  to 
take  effectual  measures  that  all  the  presbyteries  send 
up  in  due  season  their  full  representation,"  so  that 
the  scattered  tribes  of  this  Israel  might,  through 
their  representatives,  appear  together  once  a  year 
before  the  Lord  at  the  sanctuary.  Nor  was  the  de- 
plorable and  pitiable  condition  of  the  frontiers  for- 
gotten or  neglected,  but  received,  as  it  deserved, 
most  earnest  and  solemn  attention.  On  a  report  of 
Drs.  Allison  and  Stanhope  Smith,  the  synods  were 
requested  to  recommend  to  the  General  Assembly 
at  their  next  meeting,  two  members,  well  qualified, 
to  be  employed  in  missions  on  our  frontiers,  for 
the  purpose  of  organizing  churches,  administering 
ordinances,  ordaining  elders,  collecting  information 
concerning  the  religious  state  of  these  parts,  and 
proposing  the  best  means  of  establishing  a  gospel 
ministry  among  the  people;  and  in  order  to  provide 
necessary  funds  the  presbyteries  were  enjoined  to 
have  collections  made  and  forwarded  with  all  con- 
venient speed.     This  action  was  in  full  accord  with 


TO   THE  REUNION  155 

an  unbroken  line  of  deliverances  stretching  back  to 
the  very  beginning  of  organic  Presbyterianism  in 
this  country.  The  Church  of  our  fathers  was  poor 
of  purse,  but  rich  in  faith;  and  though  "little 
among  the  thousands  of  Judah,"  she  had  a  heart 
big  enough  to  take  in  the  world.  From  the  first  she 
has  been  a  missionary  Church.  Woe  be  unto  her 
if  she  lose  that  spirit! 

Desirous,  moreover,  to  spread  the  knowledge  of 
eternal  life  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the 
Assembly  adopted  measures  by  which  to  aid  the 
publication  and  dissemination  of  an  American 
edition  of  the  Bible,  thus  indicating  the  genuineness 
of  their  Protestantism  by  their  love  for  and  attach- 
ment to  the  word  of  God  pure  and  simple. 

Adam  Rankin,  from  the  Presbytery  of  Transyl- 
vania, who,  like  the  thief  in  the  gospel,  seems  not 
to  have  **  entered  by  the  door,"  but  to  have  climbed 
up  some  other  way,  brought  before  the  Assembly  a 
portentous  overture  to  the  effect  that  the  Church 
had  fallen  into  a  "great  and  pernicious  error  in  the 
public  worship  of  God  by  disusing  Rouse's  versifi- 
cation of  David's  Psalms  and  adopting,  in  the  room 
of  it,  Watts'  imitation."  Mr.  Rankin  being  heard 
patiently  "as  long  as  he  chose  to  speak,"  which 
was  at  "great  length,"  an  able  and  judicious  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  confer  with  him  privately; 
but  efforts  toward  relieving  his  mind  proving  futile, 


156      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

he  was  earnestly  "recommended  to  exercise  that 
Christian  charity  toward  those  who  differed  from 
him  in  their  views  on  this  matter  which  was  exer- 
cised toward  himself,  and  he  was  guarded  to  be 
careful  not  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  Church  on 
this  head."  These  reasonable  and  fraternal  recom- 
mendations were  disregarded  by  him,  however;  and 
returning  home,  by  a  fierce  and  fanatical  agitation 
of  the  subject,  he  produced  in  the  Church  in  Ken- 
tucky a  schism  which  for  years  entailed  lamentable 
disaster  upon  the  cause  of  Christ  in  that  State.  The 
temper  and  action  of  the  Assembly  in  the  premises 
show  that  the  policy  of  the  Church  on  the  question 
of  psalmody  was  settled. 

in  answer  to  an  overture  as  to  whether  the 
'•'General  Assembly  would  admit  to  their  commun- 
ion a  presbytery  who  are  totally  averse  to  the  doc- 
trine of  receiving,  hearing  or  judging  of  any  appeals 
from  presbyteries  to  synods  or  from  synods  to 
General  Assemblies,  because  in  their  judgment  it  is 
inconsistent  with  Scripture  and  the  practice  of  the 
primitive  Church,"  it  was  said  "that  although  they 
consider  the  right  of  appeal  from  the  decision  of  an 
inferior  judicature  to  a  superior  one  an  important 
privilege,  which  no  member  of  their  body  ought  to 
be  deprived  of,  yet  they  at  the  same  time  declare 
that  they  do  not  desire  any  member  to  be  active  in 
any   case   which    may   be    inconsistent   with    the 


TO   THE  REUNION  157 

dictates  of  his  conscience."  This  does  not  prove 
or  argue  that  the  Assembly,  v/hich  was  almost  en- 
tirely composed  of  Scotchmen  and  Irishmen  or  those 
of  Scotch-Irish  extraction,  held  or  sympathized  with 
lax  ecclesiastical  views,  but  it  only  shows  that  in 
peculiar  and  delicate  circumstances  the  Assembly 
acted  cautiously,  prudently  and  charitably.  It 
would  have  been  marvelously  strange  if,  after  all 
her  testimony  and  all  her  sufferings  in  defense  of 
her  principles,  the  Church  should  at  this  point  have 
tamely  repudiated  these  principles.  The  very  calm- 
ness and  mildness  of  the  answer  rather  show  the 
firmness  of  her  convictions  and  the  strength  of  her 
position. 

The  Church  at  this  time  consisted  of  four  synods, 
sixteen  presbyteries,  one  hundred  and  seventeen 
ministers  and  four  hundred  and  nineteen  churches, 
two  hundred  and  four  of  which  were  vacant. 
Single  presbyteries  embraced  whole  States  and  in- 
definite expanses  of  territories  besides.  Pastors  had 
parishes  as  large  as  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland 
all  put  together. 

The  shock  of  the  French  revolution  was  felt  on 
these  shores.  Infidelity  in  France,  in  the  name  of 
liberty,  equality  and  fraternity,  had  committed 
atrocities  for  which  human  speech  has  coined  no 
fitting  or  adequate  terms.  In  its  wanton,  blas- 
phemous impiety   it  had  violated  all  sanctities,    it 


158      FBOJI  ADOPTION  F0R3I  OF  G0VERN3IENT 

had  desecrated  all  shrines,  it  had  trampled  upon  all 
rights,  human  and  divine,  it  had  christened  the 
dreadest  instrument  of  modern  times  the  "  holy 
guillotine,"  it  had  striven  to  quench  the  light  of 
hope  in  the  heart  of  man  by  decreeing  that  "there 
is  no  God"  and  that  "  death  is  an  eternal  sleep,"  it 
had  wreaked  its  direst  vengeance  on  the  living,  and 
then,  hyena-like,  had  rifled  the  grave  that  it  might 
dishonor  the  bones  and  dust  of  the  illustrious  dead. 
It  has  left  its  track  on  the  page  of  history  as  the 
trail  of  a  filthy  snake,  in  orgies  of  lust  and  in  car- 
nivals of  blood.  The  mephitic  atmosphere  of  its 
licentious  and  ribald  atheism  was  wafted  across  the 
ocean,  and  threatened  to  blight  with  a  curse  the 
virgin  life  of  the  young  republic.  If  the  principles 
of  French  infidelity  had  fairly  taken  root  in  Ameri- 
can soil,  they  would  have  produced  a  harvest  of 
anarchy,  lust  and  carnage  such  as  they  had  pro- 
duced in  their  native  soil;  and  for  some  time  after 
the  Revolutionary  War  it  seemed  that  such  a  catas- 
trophe as  this  awaited  the  nation. 

During  the  war  France  was  our  ally,  and  thus  the 
sympathy  between  the  two  countries  was  close  and 
responsive.  French  fashions,  French  manners  and 
French  modes  of  thought  and  of  living  dazzled  the 
minds  of  many.  Some  of  the  leading  statesmen  of 
the  time  and  many  of  the  lower  politicians  were 
avowed  infidels.     French  infidelity  was  discussed 


TO   THE  REUNION  159 

around  the  camp-fires,  in  legislative  halls,  in  social 
circles,  at  the  Federal  capital  and  in  the  backwoods 
of  remote  Western  settlements.  War,  too,  had 
left  its  dregs  and  debris  of  vice,  idleness,  drunken- 
ness and  debauchery.  The  very  air  was  heavy 
with  the  poison  of  deadly  error,  and  the  Church 
itself  felt  its  paralyzing  influence.  Formalism,  in- 
difference and  skepticism  prevailed  among  profess- 
ing Christians,  while  many  of  the  pastors  were 
mere  "hirelings  who  cared  not  for  the  sheep." 
The  foundations  of  religion,  morality  and  of  social 
order  seemed  to  be  giving  way.  In  view  of  this 
state  of  things,  the  General  Assembly,  in  the  year 
1798,  issued  a  pastoral  letter  which  to  this  day 
sounds  like  the  blast  of  a  trumpet.  The  letter 
speaks  eloquently  and  solemnly  of  the  ''con- 
vulsions in  Europe"  and  of  the  "solemn  crisis" 
in  this  country;  it  points  with  alarm  to  the  "  burst- 
ing storm  which  threatened  to  sweep  before  it  the 
religious  principles,  institutions  and  morals  of  the 
people;"  it  frames  a  dreadful  indictment  against 
the  age,  charging  it  with  corruption  of  manners, 
prevailing  impiety,  horrible  profanation  of  the 
Lord's  Day,  contempt  for  religion,  abounding  infi- 
delity, which  assumes  a  front  of  daring  impiety 
and  possesses  a  mouth  filled  with  blasphemy;  and 
it  declares  that  among  ministers  of  the  gospel  and 
professors   of   Christianity  there  was  a  degree  of 


160      FROM  ADOPTION  F0R3I  OF  GOVERNMENT 

supineness,  inattention,  formality,  deadness,  hypoc- 
risy and  pernicious  error  which  threatened  the 
dissolution  of  religious  society.  A  dark  picture, 
truly,  but  not  a  whit  darker  than  the  subject  which 
it  portrayed. 

Nor  were  such  views  and  forebodings  confined 
to  the  clergymen.  Patrick  Henry,  in  a  letter  to 
his  daughter,  says,  "The  view  which  the  rising 
greatness  of  our  country  presents  to  my  eyes  is 
greatly  tarnished  by  the  general  prevalence  of 
deism,  which,  with  me,  is  but  another  name  for 
vice  and  depravity." 

The  clouds  which  thus  lowered  over  the  new 
States  and  threw  their  black  shadows  of  evil  por- 
tent far  into  the  future  were  scattered  by  the  breath 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  going  forth  in  powerful  and 
widespread  revivals  of  religion.  During  the  Revo- 
lutionary War.  on  the  borders  of  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  a  rude  fort  into  which  had  been  driven  the 
scattered  families  of  a  sparse  neighborhood,  and  in 
which  they  were  held  besieged  by  bloody  savages, 
through  the  modest,  earnest  conversations  of  one 
layman,  the  mighty  work  began  which  forever 
settled  on  these  shores  the  issue  as  between  the 
gospel  and  French  infidelity,  it  was  "  an  handful 
of  corn  in  the  earth,"  in  a  strange  seed-plot,  but  the 
fiiiil  thereof  to-day,  in  all  these  States,  and  far 
hence  to  the  Gentiles,  "  shakes  like  Lebanon."     ''  It 


TO   THE  REUNION  161 

is  the  Lord's  doings,  and  it  is  wondrous  in  our 
eyes."  From  the  year  1781  to  the  year  1787  there 
was  almost  a  continuous  effusion  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  marvelous  power  upon  the  churches  in  Western 
Pennsylvania.  Souls  were  drawn  as  by  an  irre- 
sistible magnet  to  the  pulpit,  and  held  for  days 
and  nights  under  the  power  of  the  truth  in  its 
enlightening  and  saving  efficacy.  To  measure 
the  results  of  such  a  work  at  such  a  time,  in  a 
society  which  was  in  a  formative  state,  is  as 
impossible  as  it  would  be  to  estimate  the  contents 
of  the  covenanted  blessings  of  Abraham.  From 
that  rude  fort  "  their  line  is  gone  out  through  all 
the  earth." 

When  the  work  had  gone  on  for  five  years  in 
Western  Pennsylvania,  there  might  have  been 
found  across  the  Blue  Ridge,  one  Saturday  after- 
noon, in  a  dense  forest,  a  mile  from  Hampden- 
Sidney  College,  four  young  students  holding  a 
prayer  meeting.  For  the  first  time  in  their  lives 
they  opened  their  lips  in  praver  in  the  presence  of 
any  except  their  God.  Hidden  in  the  deep  recesses 
of  the  woods,  thev  stammered  forth  their  broken 
petitions,  but  no  prayers  uttered  beneath  the  domes 
of  grand  cathedrals  and  in  the  presence  of  thou- 
sands of  rapt  worshipers  were  ever  more  efficacious. 
The  next  meeting  of  these  students  was  appointed 
in  one  of  their  rooms  in  the  college,  and  behind 


162      FR03I  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

bolted  doors  and  in  suppressed  voices  they  began  to 
sing  and  pray;  but  the  news  of  the  strange  pro- 
ceeding spread  rapidly  through  the  college,  and 
soon  a  mob  was  collected  at  the  door  of  the  room, 
whooping,  thumping,  swearing  and  threatening 
vengeance;  nor  was  the  riot  quelled  until  two  of 
the  professors  appeared  upon  the  scene  and  vigor- 
ously exercised  their  official  authority.  A  prayer 
meeting  raised  a  riot  in  H amp  den-Sidney  College! 
If  we  take  into  account  the  additional  fact  that  out- 
side of  this  little  praying  circle  there  was  not  a  copy 
of  the  Bible  among  the  students,  we  can  form  an 
idea  of  the  degree  to  which  the  leaven  of  infidelity 
had  infected  the  minds  of  the  young  men  of  that 
generation.  From  that  little  prayer  meeting  in  the 
woods  began  a  precious  work  of  grace  which 
spread  through  the  counties  south  of  the  James 
River  and  swept  up  and  down  the  great  valley  of 
Virginia,  baptizing  in  its  course  the  two  literary  in- 
stitutions, Hampden-Sidney  College  and  Liberty 
Hall  Academy,  which  afterwards  became  Washing- 
ton College,  and  giving  to  the  ministry  such  men  as 
Drury  Lacy,  with  "the  silver  voice  and  the  silver 
hand,"  William  Hill,  Carey  Allen,  Nash  Legrand, 
James  Blythe,  John  Lyle,  James  Turner  and  Archi- 
bald Alexander.  Thus  the  proud,  vaunting  specu- 
lations and  blasphemous  scoffings  and  swollen  in- 
solences of  infidelity  were  silenced  in  Virginia  by 


rO   THE  REUNION  163 

the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  exhibited  in  the  con- 
version of  souls. 

Sucn  power  as  this  was  not  pent  up  within  State 
lines.  The  venerable  Patillo  came  up  from  North 
Carolina  to  see  the  wonderful  works  of  God,  and 
returning  home  with  mind  and  heart  aglow  finished 
his  ministry  in  a  blaze  of  religious  fervor.  A  young 
man  who  years  before  had  left  North  Carolina  in 
order  to  seek  an  education  in  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  who  in  the  meantime  had  been  converted 
under  the  preaching  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Smith,  and 
who  was  among  the  first  of  those  who  were  edu- 
cated under  Dr.  McMillan,  having  been  licensed 
by  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone,  started  southward 
to  visit  his  kindred,  and  on  the  way  stopped  at 
Prince  Edward  and  caught  the  holy  contagion  of 
the  revival  there,  was  the  means  under  God  of 
arousing  the  churches  from  a  deathlike  stupor  and 
of  diffusing  the  spiritual  awakening  from  the  Dan 
to  the  Catawba.  With  intense  convictions,  a  fear- 
less and  merciless  reprover  of  sin,  a  pitiless  scourger 
of  formality  and  hypocrisy,  with  an  impassioned 
manner  and  a  voice  like  seven  trumpets,  the  Rev. 
James  McGready  flashed  the  terrors  of  the  law  into 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  men  until  the  stoutest 
quailed.  After  some  years  of  most  arduous  and 
fruitful  labor  in  North  Carolina  he  removed  to  Ken- 
tucky, where  his  searching,  discriminating  preach- 


164      FEOJI  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVFENMENT 

ing  became  the  means  of  the  great  awakening  in 
that  State,  the  mighty  influence  of  which,  in  a  ref- 
luent tide,  swept  over  Tennessee,  the  Carolinas, 
Virginia  and  Western  Pennsylvania. 

The  revival  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  had 
brought  into  the  ministry  a  band  of  young  men 
whose  hearts  God  had  touched  in  a  signal  man- 
ner. Never  was  a  knight  of  the  cross  more  eager 
to  encounter  hardship  and  peril  in  the  rescue  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the  hand  of  the  infidel 
than  were  these  young  soldiers  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
eager  in  their  flaming  zeal  to  engage  in  arduous 
and  perilous  enterprises  for  the  glory  of  their 
Master.  In  order  to  furnish  them  a  suitable  field, 
the  Synod  of  Virginia,  in  the  year  1789,  organized 
a  committee  on  missions,  which  from  year  to  year 
sent  forth  these  young  heralds  to  carry  the  gospel 
to  destitute  places.  Among  these  went  forth  such 
men  as  Nash  Legrand,  an  Apollo  in  physical  grace 
and  proportion,  with  a  voice  whose  modulations 
were  as  pleasing  as  the  dulcet  notes  of  a  lute,  and 
"whose  labors  were  more  extensive  in  spreading 
the  revival  than  any  other  agent  employed  in  the 
work;"  William  Hill,  one  of  the  immortal  four 
who  held  the  prayer  meeting  in  the  woods  at 
Prince  Edward;  the  eccentric,  witty,  brilliant, 
genial  and  eloquent  Carey  Allen,  "  whom  the  com- 
mon people  heard  gladly,"  and  whose  intense  ardor 


TO   THE  REUNION  165 

soon  consumed  his  physical  Hfe;  Robert  Marshall, 
who,  spared  through  six  hard-fought  battles  of  the 
Revolutionary  War  to  become  a  soldier  in  a  holier 
war,  enlisted  all  the  enthusiasm  of  his  impulsive 
nature  in  the  work  of  preaching  the  gospel  with 
earnestness  and  startling  directness;  Archibald 
Alexander,  whom  to  name  is  to  eulogize;  William 
Calhoun,  the  companion  of  Carey  Allen  in  his  mis- 
sionary toils  and  perils;  the  brilliant,  able  and 
scholarly  John  Poage  Campbell  (a  lineal  descendant 
of  the  seraphic  Rutherford),  whose  sledge  hammer 
logic  dashed  to  pieces  the  Pelagianism  of  Craig- 
head, and  who  wielded  a  pen  which  was  at  one 
time  as  keen  as  a  Damascus  blade  and  at  another  as 
terrific  and  crushing  as  the  battle-ax  of  a  mailed 
knight;  the  praying  Rannels;  James  Blythe,  whose 
room  had  been  the  rendezvous  of  the  praying 
students  at  Hampden-Sidney  College;  and  Robert 
Stuart,  the  laborious  missionary,  the  accomplished 
educator,  the  faithful  pastor,  a  Melanchthon  in 
council,  but  a  Luther  in  battle.  Of  this  number 
some  labored  in  Virginia  and  some  went  to  Ken- 
tucky. These  were  the  young  guard  of  Presbyte- 
rianism,  who,  snatching  up  the  drooping  standards 
of  the  sacramental  host,  with  a  holy  chivalry  bore 
them  onward  through  teeming  dangers  and  sore 
privations,  to  plant  them  firmly  and  conspicuously 
on  outpost  and  picket  line.     These  were  the  youth- 


166      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

ful  heroes  whose  clarion  voices,  tuned  to  the  love 
of  Jesus,  called  the  Church  from  out  her  entrench- 
ments, in  which  she  had  for  long  been  cowering, 
and  made  her  aggressive  in  her  whole  mien,  atti- 
tude and  spirit,  and  led  her  forward  to  victories 
which  rendered  the  spiritual  opening  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  as  bright  as  "another  morn  risen  on 
mid-noon." 

The  last  century  drew  to  its  close  amidst  dense 
spiritual  darkness  in  Kentucky.  The  rapid  increase 
of  population  had  far  outstripped  the  supply  of 
ministers  and  the  multiplication  of  the  means  of 
grace.  The  labors  of  Father  Rice  and  a  few  men 
of  kindred  spirit  were  wholly  inadequate  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  times.  Amidst  the  contagious 
spirit  of  land  speculation  and  the  exciting  scenes 
and  incidents  of  border  life,  many  who  at  their 
former  homes  had  been  exemplary  Christians  forgot 
their  vows,  struck  their  colors  and  went  over  to  the 
ranks  of  the  enemy,  while  those  who,  although  not 
professors,  had  been  respecters  of  religion,  became 
open  scoffers,  and  open  scoffers  grew  more  and 
more  bold  in  iniquity.  Mammon,  rum  and  mad 
adventure  ruled  the  hearts  of  men  with  despotic 
sway.  Infidelity,  vice  and  irreligion  came  in  like  a 
flood,  wave  on  wave,  threatening  to  overwhelm 
and  sweep  away  the  foundations  of  all  social,  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  institutions.     ''  The  people  sat  in 


TO   THE  REUNION  167 

the  region  and  shadow  of  death.''  In  the  perilous 
crisis  many  of  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  grew 
faint-hearted,  and  through  cowardice  or  apostasy 
betrayed  the  cause  which  they  were  sworn  to  de- 
fend. A  stiff  and  stark  formalism,  and  the  un- 
happy controversy  and  schism  on  the  subject  of 
psahnody,  had  well-nigh  destroyed  all  piety  in  the 
Church,  while  in  the  walks  of  public  life  infidelity 
prevailed  and  among  the  masses  abominable  and 
high-handed  crime  abounded. 

Such  was  the  desperate  condition  of  things  in 
Kentucky  when  the  young  missionaries  from  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina  entered  it  and  began  to 
preach  the  gospel  with  such  a  fullness  of  conviction 
and  with  so  awful  vividness  that  all  classes  of  men, 
from  the  philosophic  skeptic  to  the  red-handed 
desperado,  were  swayed  by  its  power  as  the  fields 
of  headed  grain  bend  before  the  sweep  of  the  wind 
or  as  clouds  marshal  to  the  step  of  the  storm. 

The  revival  began  in  the  year  1797  in  the  churches 
which  were  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev. 
James  McGready,  who  preached  the  most  vital  and 
solemn  doctrines  of  the  gospel  with  prodigious  force 
and  startling  directness.  The  religious  interest  thus 
begun  extended  and  deepened  until,  in  the  year 
1800,  on  sacramental  occasions,  thousands  came 
from  far  and  near,  bringing  with  them  provisions 
and  conveniences  for  temporary  lodging.     This  was 


1G8      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM    OF  GOVERNMENT 

the  origin  of  camp  meetings;  and  when  once  in- 
augurated, they  became  a  distinctive  feature  of  the 
times  and  constituted  a  marked  agency  of  the  work 
as  it  was  carried  on.  When  the  camp  was  estab- 
lished, it  became,  for  the  time  being,  the  center  of 
all  life  and  interest.  The  plow  rusted  in  the  fur- 
row, the  sickle  was  hung  up  even  in  the  time  of 
harvest;  all  ages  and  all  classes  swelled  the  crowds 
which  poured  in  from  all  sides,  as  the  tribes  of 
Israel  converged  by  all  paths  to  the  tabernacle. 
Thousands  of  vehicles,  with  their  thousands  of 
neighbormg  horses,  filled  the  groves  and  gave  the 
appearance  of  an  army  encamped.  Men,  women 
and  children,  old  age  with  its  staff,  the  child  with 
its  rattle,  the  invalid  with  his  bed,  the  matron  with 
her  cares,  the  maiden  in  the  freshness  of  her  beauty, 
the  young  man  in  the  glory  of  his  strength,  were 
there  by  tens  of  thousands. 

From  the  moving,  teeming  multitudes  the  hum  of 
voices  arose  like  the  distant  roar  of  the  sea.  Now 
the  volume  of  praise  arises  as  the  "  voice  of  many 
waters,"  and  now  all  is  hushed  except  the  impas- 
sioned tones  of  the  preacher,  which,  magnetized  by 
the  burden  of  the  message  and  by  intensity  of  emo- 
tion, kindle  to  a  flame  the  hearts  of  the  breathless 
throng  as  when  the  wind  drives  to  race-horse  speed 
the  leaping  flames  on  a  dry  prairie.  The  spectacle 
at  night,  with  the  scattered  tents  and  wagons,  and 


TO    THE  REUNION  1G9 

the  multitudes  of  men,  women  and  children  and 
horses,  all  dimly  revealed  by  camp-fires,  torches, 
lamps  and  candles,  and  the  deep,  dark,  silent  forest 
around,  made  up  a  scene  lit  for  a  Raphael  to  picture 
in  colors  or  for  a  Milton  to  paint  in  words.  Amidst 
scenes  and  incidents  so  wild  and  strange  and  im- 
pressive, with  so  many  inflammable  elements  com- 
mingling and  with  so  many  intense  influences  and 
forces  cooperating  to  produce  the  deepest  convic- 
tion of  sin  on  the  one  hand  and  to  excite  the  most 
ecstatic  devotion  on  the  other,  it  need  not  be  a  mat- 
ter of  astonishment  that  lamentable  extravagances 
both  of  sentiment  and  of  conduct  were  developed; 
but  these  extravagances  formed  no  essential  part  of 
the  revival,  and  are  to  be  carefully  discriminated 
from  it.  Some  of  the  ablest  and  wisest  pastors 
who  were  engaged  in  the  work  solemnly  protested 
against  the  "bodily  exercises"  and  all  their  un- 
seemly concomitants.  The  Lord  sent  a  gracious 
revival,  but  through  the  folly  and  vanity  of  man  it 
was  marred  and  disfigured  by  abominable  excres- 
cences; or,  in  the  language  of  the  venerable  Father 
Rice,  "  it  was  sadly  mismanaged,  dashed  down  and 
broken  to  pieces,"  so  that  the  work  which  began 
under  auspices  so  bright  ended  in  disastrous  fanati- 
cism, heresy  and  schism.  When  the  Spirit  of  God 
moved  the  waters  which  had  been  so  long  stag- 
nant, profuse  froth  and  scum  were  thrown  to  the 


170      FIi031  ADOPTION  FORM   OF  GOVERNMENT 

surface  in  the  form  of  New  Lightism,  Universalism, 
Arianism  and  fanaticism. 

The  New  Light  schism  in  its  brief  and  fitful 
career  swept  up  the  cast-off  skins  of  errors,  new 
and  old,  as  they  lay  strewn  along  the  track  of  time 
all  the  way  from  Gnosticism  to  Shakerism,  and  was 
at  last  merged  into  that  creedless  Babel  of  theolog- 
ical opinions  founded  by  Alexander  Campbell. 

The  widespread  religious  interest  created  a  de- 
mand for  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  at  the  same 
time  begat  a  desire  to  preach  the  gospel  in  the 
minds  of  many  who  had  no  academical  or  other 
training  to  fit  them  for  the  sacred  office.  The  li- 
censing and  ordaining  such  men,  in  utter  and  high- 
handed defiance  of  the  requirements  of  the  Book  of 
Discipline,  both  in  regard  to  literary  qualifications 
and  to  the  adoption  and  subscription  of  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  led  to  the  schism  which  resulted  in 
the  organization  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church. 

From  these  conflicts  the  Church  emerged  greatly 
reduced  in  numbers  and  resources,  it  is  true,  but, 
nevertheless,  purer  and  more  compact  than  before. 
Amidst  the  fierce  storms  she  preserved  her  stand- 
ards intact,  vindicated  the  cause  of  theological  edu- 
cation, resolutely  refused  to  abate  an  iota  of  the 
conditions  of  subscription  of  the  Confession,  and 
demonstrated  to  all  the  world  that  in  times  of  high- 


TO   THE  REUNION  171 

wrought  excitement  it  is  safer  to  stand  on  the  rock 
of  principle  than  to  drift  with  the  eddying  currents 
of  expediency. 

Notwithstanding  these  deplorable  fanaticisms, 
apostasies  and  lamentable  schisms,  there  was  a 
genuine  and  extensive  work  of  grace  throughout 
the  churches  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  The 
bodily  exercises  were  no  part  of  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  The  revival  was  a  work  of  God 
notwithstanding  the  bodily  exercises.  \n  the  pro- 
longed and  intense  excitement  the  infirmities  of 
human  nature  threw  to  the  surface  a  great  many  ir- 
regularities and  extraordinary  physical  phenomena 
which,  to  a  degree,  obscured  the  real  work  in  its 
progress  and  results.  The  winnowed  wheat  glides 
quietly  into  the  garner,  while  the  chaff  and  mildew 
darken  and  pollute  the  air. 

In  the  second  year  of  the  present  century  the  re- 
vival began  at  Cross  Roads,  in  Orange  County, 
Noith  Carolina,  and  from  that  center  radiated  its 
spiritual  quickening  light  and  power  through  a  wide 
circle.  Such  was  the  interest  in  hearing  the  gospel 
from  the  living  teacher  that  thousands,  in  the  depth 
of  winter,  stood  listening  the  livelong  day  in 
drenching  storms  of  rain,  sleet  and  snow.  Meet- 
ings were  continued  through  the  whole  night  to  the 
breaking  of  the  day.  and  then  were  resumed  at  nine 
o'clock    on    the    next    morning.     The    infidel,    the 


172      FB03f  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

scoffer,  the  formal  professor,  the  drunkard,  the  de- 
bauchee, the  giddy  youth,  the  hardened  criminal, 
the  learned,  the  ignorant,  the  bond,  the  free,  the 
master,  the  slave,  were  all  brought  under  the  resist- 
less influence  and  were  made  one  in  Christ  Jesus. 
No  barriers  erected  by  Satan  were  sufficient  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  work;  but  purged  to  a 
great  extent  of  the  extravagances  and  excrescences 
which  had  been  so  prolific  of  mischief  in  Kentucky, 
it  gained  thereby  in  depth  and  power,  and  has  left 
in  the  Carolinas  spots  as  marked  in  the  memory, 
and  as  dear  to  the  hearts,  of  Presbyterians,  as  the 
moors  and  mountains  of  Scotland  are  sacred  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Covenanters. 

In  Virginia  the  revival  began  in  a  little  prayer 
meeting  of  private  Christians  among  the  mountains 
where  there  was  no  stated  ministry — another  in- 
stance of  proof  that  genuine  revivals  are  not  pro- 
duced by  blowing  trumpets  or  by  the  impressive 
marshaling  of  great  crowds.  Now,  as  ever,  the 
Lord  is  not  in  the  storm  nor  the  earthquake  nor  the 
fire,  but  in  the  "still  small  voice."  The  more 
quietly  and  obscurely  a  revival  begins,  the  greater 
is  its  real  power.  The  influence  of  that  little  band 
of  praying  disciples  among  the  mountains,  not  one 
of  whom  probably  could  construct  a  half  dozen  con- 
secutive sentences  of  good  English,  rose  like  the 
little  cloud  which  the  servant  of  Elijah  saw  from 


TO   THE  REUNION  173 

the  top  of  Carmel,  and  descended  in  copious  show- 
ers of  blessing  throughout  the  State  for  many 
years  thereafter. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1802  there  were  mar- 
velous displays  of  divine  grace  in  the  pastoral 
charge  of  the  Rev.  Elisha  McCurdy,  consisting  of 
the  churches  of  Three  Springs  and  Cross  Roads  in 
Western  Pennsylvania,  in  which  churches  a  pray- 
ing band  had  for  some  time  before  been  observing 
a  concert  of  prayer  on  each  Thursday  evening  at 
sunset.  The  gracious  influences  thus  kindled  soon 
spread  to  the  congregations  of  Cross  Creek,  Rac- 
coon, Upper  Buffalo  and  Chartiers,  whose  pastors 
were  respectively  the  Rev.  Thomas  Marquis,  the 
Rev.  Joseph  Patterson,  the  Rev.  John  Anderson  and 
the  Rev.  John  McMillan.  The  interest  and  power 
of  this  revival  culminated  at  the  "great  Buffalo 
sacrament,"  in  November,  1802,  at  Upper  Buffalo, 
Washington  County,  Pennsylvania.  Vast  crowds 
attended  this  meeting,  and  religious  services  were 
continued  almost  without  interruption  from  Satur- 
day noon  to  Tuesday  evening,  and  all  these  exercises 
were  accompanied  with  marvelous  displays  of  divine 
power.  During  the  progress  of  this  meeting  the 
Rev.  Elisha  McCurdy  preached  his  celebrated  ''war 
sermon,"  under  the  power  of  which,  according  to 
eye-witnesses,  it  seemed  that  every  tenth  man  had 
been  smitten  down.     Rarely  in  the  history  of  the 


174      FE03I  ADOFTION  FOEM   OF  G0VERN3IENT 

Church  have  such  ministers  labored  together  in  a  re- 
vival as  met  in  this  one — Patterson,  "full  of  faith 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,"  Marquis  of  the  silver  tongue, 
Anderson,  whose  searching  discourses  penetrated 
the  hidden  places  of  the  human  heart  as  a  surgeon's 
probe  goes  to  the  bottom  of  a  festering  wound,  and 
the  lion-like  McMillan,  whose  thunderous  tones  in 
preaching  the  terrors  of  the  law  made  sinners  feel 
that  the  trumpet  of  the  archangel  was  sounding. 
Under  the  preaching  of  such  men  began  the  won- 
derful work  of  grace  which  in  its  progress  reached 
and  blessed  "every  Presbyterian  congregation  west 
of  the  mountains  in  Pennsylvania." 

Nor  were  these  outpourings  of  the  spirit  confined 
to  the  South  and  the  West.  In  the  eastern  part  of 
the  Church  the  revival  influence  was  not  so  mighty 
nor  so  extraordinary  in  its  phenomena,  yet  it  was 
no  less  genuine  or  precious  or  far-reaching  in  its 
influence  and  results.  In  the  year  1802  a  deep  and 
continued  work  of  grace  began  in  the  First  Church 
of  Newark,  New  Jersey,  which  was  then  under  the 
collegiate  pastorate  of  Dr.  Alexander  McWhorter 
and  the  Rev.  Edward  Dorr  Griffin.  The  ministry 
of  Dr.  McWhorter  had  been  a  series  of  revivals,  and 
the  history  of  this  ministry  had  a  brilliant  continu- 
ation under  Dr.  Griffin,  a  physical  and  intellectual 
giant,  whose  splendid  endowments  were  conse- 
crated without  reserve  to  the  service  of  his  Lord 


TO   THE  EEUXION  175 

and  Master;  and  whether  preaching  in  a  metro- 
politan pulpit  or  in  a  schoolhouse  or  in  a  cramped 
and  dingy  townhall,  these  endowments  were  all 
brought  into  play  with  all  their  overpowering  efful- 
gence. His  wonderful  endowments  both  of  body 
and  of  mind,  his  majestic  presence  and  his  magnifi- 
cent oratory,  place  him  conspicuously  in  the  front 
rank  of  the  preachers  of  all  the  ages;  and  a  revival  of 
religion  was  the  occasion  on  which  he  seemed  to  be 
most  at  home  and  on  which  his  faculties  worked 
most  harmoniously  and  most  brilliantly. 

While  in  commanding  ability  and  Demosthenic 
eloquence  Dr.  Griffin  was  without  a  peer,  there  were 
colaborers  of  his  who  were  not  a  whit  behind  him 
in  devotion  and  in  influence.  Such  were  the  Rev. 
Henry  Kollock,  upon  whom  the  mantle  of  White- 
field  seems  to  have  fallen,  Dr.  James  Richards,  after- 
wards the  successor  of  Dr.  Griffin  in  the  First  Church 
of  Newark,  New  Jersey,  the  Rev.  Asa  Hillyer, 
whose  every  instinct  was  evangelistic,  and  whose 
thoughts  and  prayers  accompanied  his  gifts  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth,  the  witty  and  genial  Armstrong 
(Amzi,  D.  D.),  the  amiable  Perrine  (Matthew  La 
Rue,  D.  D.),  Robert  Finley,  ''the  father  of  the 
American  Colonization  Society,"  who,  in  his  en- 
thusiasm for  the  cause  which  he  had  espoused, 
brought  the  mightiest  minds  of  the  United  States 
Senate  to  sit  at  his  feet.     These  brethren,  quickened 


176      FE03f  ADOPTION  FOB 31  OF  G0VERN3IENT 

by  the  spirit  of  revival,  went  forth  two  by  two 
through  the  destitute  portions  of  New  jersey,  in 
quest  of  "  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,"  and 
in  these  missionary  tours  they  were  greatly  blessed. 
Preaching  to  the  miners  among  the  mountains  they 
saw,  as  Whitefield  in  England  had  seen,  the  tears  of 
penitence  wash  white  furrows  down  the  begrimed 
and  hardened  cheeks  of  these  men.  The  work  was 
quite  general  throughout  the  State,  and  persons  of 
all  ages  and  of  all  ranks  and  classes  were  brought  to 
Christ. 

From  the  year  1803  to  the  year  1812  the  narratives 
on  the  state  of  religion  which  were  adopted  by  the 
successive  General  Assemblies  are  almost  uniformly 
cheering  and  inspiring  by  their  intelligence  of  re- 
vival, of  victory  over  infidelity,  which  had  been  so 
much  dreaded,  of  steady,  healthful  growth  and 
increasing  aggressive  power  on  the  part  of  the 
Church.  One  year  brings  the  news  that  "there 
was  scarcely  a  presbytery  under  the  care  of  the 
General  Assembly  from  which  some  pleasing  in- 
telligence had  not  been  announced,  and  that  in 
most  of  the  northern  and  eastern  presbyteries 
revivals  of  religion  of  a  more  or  less  general  nature 
had  taken  place."  In  the  following  year  we  hear  of 
remarkable  outpourings  of  the  Spirit  of  God  over 
the  "vast  region  extending  from  the  Ohio  River  to 
the   lakes,   which    res^ion   a   few  vears  before   had 


TO    THE  REUNION  177 

been  an  uninhabited  wilderness,  "  as  well  as  in  the 
Synods  of  New  Jersey,  New  York  and  Albany. 
Then  again  the  glad  tidings  come  up  from  Long 
Island,  from  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  and  from  the 
"  newly-settled  regions  in  the  western  parts  of  the 
State  of  New  York,"  which  desert,  under  the 
auspices  of  grace,  promised  to  become  as  the 
garden  of  the  Lord;  and  at  another  time  these  glad, 
tidings  came  from  Philadelphia,  Cape  May,  Balti- 
more and  Washington  City.  From  time  to  time 
the  delegates  from  the  Congregational  Churches  of 
New  England  brought  good  news  of  revivals  in 
Connecticut,  in  Yale  College,  in  Vermont,  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts  and  Maine.  From  the 
Merrimac  to  the  Mississippi,  from  Cape  Fear 
to  Cape  Cod,  from  the  Chesapeake  to  the  lakes, 
came  year  after  year  tidings  of  revival,  of  the  con- 
version of  sinners,  of  the  discomfiture  of  infidelity, 
and  of  the  triumphs  of  grace,  which  were  more 
glorious  than  any  that  were  ever  bulletined  by 
martial  heroes  from  Nimrod  to  Moltke.  In  all  this 
wide  circle  the  General  Assembly  from  its  watch- 
tower  ''could  trace  the  footsteps  of  Jehovah," 
could  perceive  distinctly  amidst  the  tumultuous 
strife  the  progress  of  the  triumphal  chariot  of  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  and  could  see  the  pillar  of  cloud 
and  of  fire  going  before  the  people  as  they  pen- 
etrated  the   great  Western   wilderness.     With   the 


178      FEOJI  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERN 3IENT 

smoke  of  the  "  clearing"  rose  the  incense  of  prayer 
and  praise.  Thus  into  the  foundations  of  our 
national  institutions  went  the  tempered  mortar  of 
sound  theology  and  of  vital  godliness.  With  these 
fathers  religion  was  not  a  theory  or  a  philosophy, 
but  a  life. 

The  narratives  on  the  state  of  religion  frequently 
and  eloquently  refer  to  the  conquests  of  grace  over 
infidelity  and  false  philosophy.  They  tell  how  these 
opposing  forces  were  by  the  power  of  God  driven 
from  the  field,  and  how  their  champions  were  either 
converted  or  else  covered  with  confusion.  They 
also  repeatedly  rejoice  in  the  fact  that  the  educated 
mind  of  the  nation  was  turning  more  and  more  to 
the  cross  of  Christ.  When  we  remember  the 
widespread  prevalence  of  infidelity  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  front  of  brazen- 
faced assurance  which  it  put  on,  and  when  we 
think  of  the  persistent  and  malignant  efforts  which 
were  made  to  brand  Christianity  as  a  vulgar  de- 
lusion, utterly  unworthy  the  consideration  of  an 
intelligent  mind,  and  when  we  consider  how  this 
seductive  infidelity,  under  the  guise  of  philosophy 
and  respectability,  had  poisoned  the  political  and 
social  life  of  the  nation, — we  can  understand  the 
solicitude  of  the  Church  in  the  solemn  crisis,  and 
know  why  it  was  that  she  so  rejoiced  when  she 
saw  the  banner  of  the  cross  lifted  up  and  advancing, 


TO   THE  REUNION  179 

while  the  standards  of  the  enemy  went  down  amidst 
the  panic-stricken  ranks  of  unbeUef. 

Thus  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  the  gates 
of  the  new  century  on  this  continent  were  swung 
open.  The  Sun  of  righteousness  arose,  and  the 
sentinels,  from  Plymouth  Rock  to  the  peaks  of  the 
Cumberland  Mountains,  passed  the  watchword, 
"  The  monii'iig  comefh." 

The  first  pulsations  of  organic  Presbyterianism  in 
this  country  were  the  throbbings  of  missionary 
zeal.  As  early  as  the  year  1707  the  presbytery 
ordered  that  "every  minister  of  the  presbytery 
supply  neighboring  desolate  places  where  a  min- 
ister is  wanting  and  opportunity  of  doing  good 
offers."  The  entire  ministry  of  the  Church  was 
thus  organized  into  a  missionary  corps.  Like  the 
children  of  Issachar,  they  were  "men  that  had 
understanding  of  the  times  to  know  what  Israel 
ought  to  do."  They  divined  the  coming  grandeur 
of  the  empire  which,  springing  up  in  the  forests 
of  America,  was  to  stretch  "from  sea  to  sea,"  and 
they  recognized  clearly  and  felt  profoundly  the 
supreme  necessity  of  laying  the  foundations  of  this 
empire  in  the  principles  of  the  word  of  God,  so 
that  it  might  be  able  to  withstand  the  winds  and 
floods  and  earthquake  shocks  which  it  must  en- 
counter   in    its  march   down   the   centuries.     The 


180      FE03I  ADOPTION  F0R3I  OF  GOVERNMENT 

Church  and  country  greatly  needed  godly  and 
faithful  ministers,  and  also  the  means  by  which 
these  ministers  could  be  supported.  Earnest  and 
repeated  cries  for  both  men  and  money  were  sent 
to  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  any  favorable 
response  to  these  entreaties  awakened  the  liveliest 
sentiments  of  gratitude  in  the  hearts  of  these 
laborious,  self-denying  servants  of  God,  who,  with 
scanty  material  resources,  but  with  a  marvelous 
wealth  of  faith,  were  humbly  and  heroically  dis- 
charging the  obscure  duties  which  belong  to  the 
''day  of  small  things." 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia 
an  overture  was  adopted  to  the  effect  that  the 
several  members  of  the  synod  ''contribute  some- 
thing to  the  raising  of  a  fund  for  pious  uses." 
These  ministers  gave  of  their  poverty,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  spirit  of  the  overture,  it  was  only  after  they 
had  thus  given,  that  they  might  "use  their  interest 
with  their  friends  on  proper  occasions  to  contribute 
something  to  the  same  purpose."  They  did  not 
merely  inculcate  benevolence,  "as  the  manner  of 
some  is,"  but  gave  a  practical  exemplification  of  it. 
They  not  only  pointed  out  the  way  to  their  flocks, 
but  led  them  in  that  way.  As  I  may  not  traverse 
this  part  of  the  field,  which  has  been  so  thoroughly 
canvassed,  let  it  suffice  to  say  that  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  this  country,  from  the  very  first,  has  been 


7V   THE  REUNION  181 

in  heart  and  soul,  in  body  and  spirit,  in  life  and 
limb,  a  missionary  organization. 

The  General  Assembly  took  up  and  carried  for- 
ward the  work  which  had  been  inaugurated  by  the 
presbytery  and  the  synod.  At  its  first  meeting  this 
subject  occupied  the  earnest  thought  and  care  of  the 
General  Assembly,  and  the  synods  were  enjoined  to 
furnish,  through  the  presbyteries,  suitable  mission- 
aries, and  the  churches  were  urged  to  take  collections 
for  the  cause,  that  thus  both  men  and  means  might 
be  furnished  for  the  establishment  of  churches  on 
the  frontiers. 

In  the  next  year  (1790)  the  Synod  of  Virginia, 
not  having  received  the  official  action  of  the  General 
Assembly,  organized  a  very  efficient  "Commission 
of  Synod,"  which  sent  its  missionaries  from  the 
"  bay  shore  to  the  Mississippi."  1  have  in  another 
connection  spoken  of  the  Commission  of  the  Synod 
of  Virginia,  of  the  remarkable  band  of  missionaries 
which  that  Commission  sent  forth,  and  of  the  great 
work  which  these  missionaries  accomplished  within 
the  borders  of  Virginia  and  in  Kentucky  and  Ten- 
nessee. The  Synod  of  North  Carolina  also  inaugu- 
rated measures  of  its  own  for  advancing  the  picket 
line  along  the  extensive  frontier.  These  synods 
were  to  report  their  operations  to  the  General 
Assembly. 

By    these     different     agencies    and    from    these 


182      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

different  centers  the  aggressive  work  of  the  Church 
was  pushed  vigorously  forward.  The  missionaries 
were  itinerant,  travehng  over  fields  immense  in 
extent  and  bristling  with  diificulties  and  dangers. 
The  General  Assembly  sent  its  missionaries  mainly 
to  Central  New  York,  Northern  Pennsylvania  and 
to  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland.  One  circuit  ex- 
tended  from  Lake  George  to  the  northwestern  fron- 
tier of  Pennsylvania.  Another  stretched  from 
Northumberland  County  along  the  branches  of  the 
Susquehanna,  and  beyond  the  head  waters  of  that 
river  northward  to  Lake  Ontario  and  westward  to 
Lake  Erie.  At  the  beginning  of  the  century  the 
Synod  of  North  Carolina  had  sent  its  missionaries, 
in  connection  with  the  missionaries  of  the  General 
Assembly,  westward  to  the  Mississippi  and  south- 
ward well-nigh  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

In  these  aggressive  movements  of  the  Church  the 
Indians  were  not  forgotten;  the  work  of  "  gospel- 
izing  "  them  occupied  the  early  and  earnest  atten- 
tion of  the  General  Assembly.  Abundant  and 
urgent  incentives  to  such  an  enterprise  were  found 
in  the  condition  and  necessities  of  these  savage 
tribes,  while  splendid  examples  of  devotion  and 
success  in  this  field  were  on  record  as  a  sanction 
and  an  encouragement  in  the  undertaking.  The 
immortal  author  of  The  Treatise  on  the  Will,  ''the 
greatest  divine  of  the  age,"  had  spent  the  fullest 


TO   THE  REUNION  183 

and  the  ripest  of  his  years  among  the  Indians  at 
Stockbridge,  Massachusetts;  and  Brainerd,  by  his 
labors  and  apostolic  zeal  among  the  same  people  on 
the  Delaware  and  the  Susquehanna,  had  given  to 
Christendom  new  ideas  on  the  subject  of  missionary 
consecration  and  enthusiasm,  and  on  the  power  of 
the  gospel  as  a  saving  and  civilizing  agent  among 
the  lowest  and  most  degraded  classes.  Under  the 
power  of  such  incentives,  and  in  the  light  of  these 
great  examples,  the  gospel  was  preached  to  the 
Indians  along  the  frontier  from  the  Hudson  to  the 
Mississippi.  Our  forefathers,  with  their  trusty  rifles 
as  a  defense  in  the  one  hand,  held  out  with  the 
other  the  Bread  of  Life  and  the  blessings  of  civiliza- 
tion and  education  to  their  treacherous  and  bloody 
foes.  The  dreadful  war  whoop  was  answered  by 
the  trumpet  of  the  gospel  of  peace.  The  Church 
kept  bravely  abreast  of  the  line  of  population  as  it 
advanced  westward.  The  watchman  of  Zion, 
seeing  the  standards  of  the  sacramental  host  borne 
steadily  onward  over  mountains,  across  rivers, 
through  difficult  and  perilous  places,  and  planted 
amidst  the  log  cabins  of  the  frontiersmen  and  the 
wigwams  of  the  Indians  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  could  have  taken  up  the  shout 
of  the  mediaeval  poet: 

"  The  royal  banners  forward  go, 
The  cross  shines  forth  with  mystic  glow." 


184      FROM  ADOl'TWN   FUllM    UF   UU\  Elil^MEM 

Presbyterianism  has  always  been  the  patron  and 
promoter  of  learning.  An  open  Bible,  an  enlight- 
ened intellect  and  an  unfettered  conscience  have 
ever  been  her  watchwords.  Whithersoever  she  has 
gone  she  has  borne  the  torch  of  learning  along 
with  her.  Her  goings  forth  have  been  attended  by 
an  illumination  like  to  that  which  attended  the  steps 
of  Milton's  Raphael  in  Eden.  The  pioneers  of  Amer- 
ican Presbyterianism,  true  to  the  traditions  of  the 
past,  carried  the  lamp  of  learning  with  them  into 
the  wilderness.  Under  the  bare  and  rude  rafters  of 
log  cabins  they  held  converse  with  the  mighty 
spirits  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  within  sound  of 
the  Indian  war  whoop  and  within  sight  of  the 
council-fires  of  savage  tribes  they  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  literary  institutions  whose  influence  has 
had  a  wider  reach  and  a  deeper  current  than  ever 
belonged  to  the  doctrines  of  the  porch  or  the 
academy. 

The  log  college  of  Tennent  on  the  banks  of  the 
Neshaminy  first  gave  the  distinctive  stamp  to  Amer- 
ican Presbyterianism,  and  that  of  Blair  at  Fagg's 
Manor,  (Pa.),  was  scarcely  less  influential,  and  shall 
ever  have  a  secure  place  in  its  unique  historic  niche 
so  long  as  it  can  be  said,  "  Samuel  Davies  was  edu- 
cated here  and  went  forth  into  the  world  an  expo- 
nent and  exemplar  of  his  Alma  Mater;"  while  that 
of  Finley  at  Nottingham,  Md.,  sent  forth  such  men 


TO   THE  REUNION  lb5 

as  Dr.  Waddell,  the  immortal  blind  preacher,  whose 
eloquence  William  Wirt  has  made  familiar  to  every 
schoolboy. 

In  Western  Pennsylvania,  as  early  as  1782,  the 
Rev.  Thaddeus  Dodd  opened  his  log  academy  on 
Ten  Mile  Creek;  the  Rev.  Joseph  Smith,  at  Upper 
Buffalo,  appropriating  his  kitchen  for  the  purpose 
of  a  Latin  school,  gave  it  the  dignified  and  classical 
title,  "The  Study";  while  even  earlier  than  this 
Dr.  McMillan,  on  the  banks  of  the  Chartiers,  laid 
the  foundations  of  Jefferson  College. 

The  same  policy  was  pursued  in  North  Carolina. 
The  self-educated  Patillo  taught  a  classical  school 
at  Granville;  Dr.  Hall  had  his  famous  ''Clio's 
Nursery"  at  Snow  Creek,  and  his  "Academy  of 
the  Sciences,"  with  its  philosophical  apparatus,  at 
his  own  house;  the  flaming  evangelist  McGready 
opened  a  school  at  his  house;  Wallis  had  a  classical 
school  at  New  Providence,  McCorkle  at  Salisbury, 
and  McCaule  at  Centre.  Patillo  and  Hall  not  only 
taught,  but  wrote  text-books.  The  spirit  of  these 
men  is  indicated  by  an  incident  in  the  life  of  Patillo. 
Once,  in  his  absence  from  home,  his  house  was 
burned;  and  the  first  question  on  meeting  his  wife 
was,  "  My  dear,  are  my  boohs  safe?  ' 

Down  the  beautiful  valleys  of  the  Holston  and 
the  Clinch,  in  Tennessee,  emigration  poured  from 
North  Carolina,   Virginia,   Pennsylvania,   and  New 


186      FB03I  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERN^IENT 

Jersey.  The  first  settled  minister  in  this  region  was 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Doak,  who  built  a  log  college, 
which  in  17S8  was  incorporated  as  Martin  Academy, 
the  first  literary  institution  established  in  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  which  afterwards,  in  1793, 
became  Washington  College.  Subsequently  remov- 
ing to  Greene  County,  Mr.  Doak  opened  his  ''Tus- 
culum,"  an  academy  to  prepare  young  men  for  col- 
lege. This  institution  also  developed  into  a  college. 
A  small  library  procured  for  Washington  College 
in  Philadelphia  was  carried  to  Tennessee  in  sacks  on 
pack  horses.  In  five  years  after  the  first  settlement 
of  the  State  by  Daniel  Boone  steps  were  taken  toward 
the  founding  of  a  seminary  of  learning  in  Kentucky. 
The  originators  and  promoters  of  this  scheme  were 
Presbyterians,  and  the  school,  the  first  in  Kentucky, 
was  opened  in  the  house  of  Father  Rice. 

Presbyterianism  is  an  Aaron's  rod  which  always 
buds  with  intellectual  as  well  as  with  spiritual  life. 
The  Graces  and  the  Muses,  in  chaste  and  modest 
fellowship  with  Christian  virtues,  dwelt  in  the 
Western  forests.  Beside  the  fires  on  the  altars  of 
pure  religion  burned  the  lamp  of  sound  learning. 
"The  church,  the  schoolhouse  and  the  college 
grew  up  with  the  log  cabin,  and  the  principles  of 
religion  were  proclaimed  and  the  classics  taught 
where  glass  windows  were  unknown  and  books 
were  carried  on  pack  horses." 


TO   THE  REUNION  187 

Devotion  to  freedom,  profound  conviction  of 
duty,  staunch  and  unswerving  loyalty  to  truth, 
stern  adherence  to  principle,  Catholic  charity,  an 
active  benevolence,  love  of  learning,  the  spirit  of 
missions  and  the  power  of  revival, — these  were  the 
vital  forces  of  early  American  Presbyterianism;  and 
these  forces  had  as  the  theater  of  their  operation 
the  republic  of  the  United  States,  with  its  vast  and 
unsolved  problems  and  its  untold  possibilities  of 
wealth  and  power,  whilst  as  the  epoch  of  their 
development  these  forces  had  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, with  its  teeming  enterprises,  its  concentrating 
energies,  its  momentous  conflicts  and  issues. 

Having  thus  endeavored  to  set  before  you  clearly, 
in  its  distinctive  characteristics,  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  America  during  the  last  decade  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  the  first  decade  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  and  having  endeavored  to  place  the 
Church  fairly  abreast  of  the  mighty  current  of 
modern  history,  the  rest  of  my  task  must  be  dis- 
patched more  summarily.  In  the  execution  of  it  1 
shall  give  only  broad  outlines  and  shall  deal  with 
forces  rather  than  with  facts. 

The  work  of  revival,  the  power  of  which  had 
been  felt  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Mississippi, 
had  evoked  the  spirit  of  missions,  and  the  spirit  of 
missions  had  enlarged  the  views  and  broadened  the 


188      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM   OF  GOVERNMENT 

sympathies  of  Christians  and  of  churches,  and  in 
this  way  different  denominations  had  been  brought 
together  in  friendly  cooperation.  In  the  year  1802 
the  General  Assembly  adopted  the  Plan  of  Union, 
under  which  a  Presbyterian  church  might  have  a 
Congregational  pastor  or  a  Congregational  church 
might  have  a  Presbyterian  pastor,  these  pastors  re- 
taining their  respective  ecclesiastical  relations.  The 
motives  which  prompted  this  action  were  in  the 
highest  degree  laudable  and  honorable,  but  the 
practical  operation  of  the  plan  was  beset  with  dif- 
ficulties, and  these  difficulties  soon  began  to  manifest 
themselves.  Swift  currents  were  now  sweeping 
the  Church  out  into  untried  waters.  New  elements, 
new  forces  and  new  issues  entered  into  the  history 
year  by  year.  The  incidents  of  the  drama  thicken. 
Events  hasten;  the  tide  of  mingling  peoples  rolls 
westward;  the  steps  of  divine  Providence  will  not 
tarry;  States  in  the  South  and  in  the  West  rise  as 
by  magic;  along  new  lines  of  trade  and  travel  cities 
spring  up  in  a  night;  vast  and  important  mission- 
fields  are  rapidly  opening,  and  the  Church  has 
neither  the  men  nor  the  means  with  which  to 
occupy  these  fields. 

In  the  year  1806  the  late  Dr.  James  Hoge,  of 
Columbus,  Ohio,  was  sent  as  a  missionary  to  "  the 
State  of  Ohio  and  parts  adjacent." 

As  the  new  age,  with  its  tumultuous  and  min- 


TO   THE  REUNION  189 

gling  elements  and  its  pressing  demands  on  Christian 
activity,  hurried  on,  it  developed  difference  of  views 
and  of  policy  where  unanimity  of  both  had  pre- 
vailed before.  In  pushing  forward  the  cause  of 
evangelization  there  were  two  antagonistic  theories 
according  to  which  the  work  was  conducted.  One 
theory  multiplied  voluntary  and  irresponsible  so- 
cieties in  different  localities,  and  operated  from 
various  centers  without  unity  of  purpose  or  of  gov- 
ernment. The  other  theory  strove  to  unify  the 
benevolent  work  of  the  Church  and  to  bring  it 
within  the  metes  and  bounds  of  ecclesiastical  con- 
trol. In  the  slow  but  steady  working  out  of  this 
latter  theory  the  committee  on  missions,  which  was 
raised  by  the  General  Assembly  in  1790,  became  a 
stated  committee,  the  stated  committee  became  a 
standing  committee,  and  the  standing  committee 
passed  into  the  Board  of  Missions  in  the  year  1816. 
In  the  same  way  successive  efforts  in  behalf  of 
ministerial  education  resulted  at  last  in  the  Board  of 
Education  in  the  year  1819. 

Besides  these  antagonistic  views  and  policies  in 
respect  to  the  benevolent  work  of  the  Church,  ques- 
tions arose  under  the  operation  of  the  Plan  of 
Union  which  touched  the  vital  principles  of  Presby- 
terianism.  There  was  no  dispute  as  to  what  Pres- 
bvterianism  was,  but  as  to  how  far  its  fundamental 
principles  mii^'ht  be  ignored  or  suspended  for  the  sake 


190      FR03I  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

of  expediency.  These  questions  and  the  differences 
which  arose  out  of  them  became  more  and  more 
emphasized  each  succeeding  year.  By  some  the  Plan 
of  Union  was  put  above  the  constitution  of  the 
Church.  By  others  the  Plan  of  Union  was  regarded 
as  a  masterly  device  for  congregationalizing  the 
Church,  or  else  for  destroying  both  Presbyterianism 
and  Congregationalism  and  producing  a  hybrid  mon- 
strosity of  ecclesiasticism  which  would  be  a  carica- 
ture of  both.  The  differences  were  deep,  striking 
down  to  the  roots  of  the  Presbyterian  system,  and 
were  consequently  irreconcilable. 

In  addition  to  the  differences  in  regard  to  policy 
and  polity,  there  were  deeper  doctrinal  contro- 
versies. The  cloud  which  contained  this  storm 
came  from  New  England.  New  measures  and 
New  Haven  theology  created  a  great  amount  of 
distrust  and  disturbance  throughout  the  Church. 
The  very  sincerity,  earnestness  and  honesty  of  the 
men  who  were  engaged  on  both  sides  of  the  con- 
troversy made  the  contest  all  the  more  determined 
and  the  excitement  attending  it  all  the  more  in- 
tense. Each  succeeding  year,  with  its  discussions, 
conventions  and  trials  for  heresy,  widened  the  lines 
of  divergence  and  whetted  the  points  of  antago- 
nism. With  much  of  heroic  devotion  to  principle 
as  well  as  with  much  of  mingled  human  infirmity 
and  error  on  both  sides,  the  contest  waxed  hotter 


TO    THE  REUNION  191 

and  hotter,  until  it  reached  its  cuhnination  in  the 
exscinding  acts  of  1837  and  the  division  of  1838. 

Of  hite  years  it  has  become  quite  the  style  to 
speak  in  a  tone  of  deprecating  pity  of  these  ec- 
clesiastical battles  of  forty  years  ago,  as  though 
they  were  mere  quibbles  about  words  or  disputes 
about  the  tithing  of  the  mint  and  the  anise  and  the 
cummin,  and  to  quote  them  as  proofs  of  a  very  low 
state  of  piety  and  of  the  prevalence  of  a  rabid  spirit 
of  scholasticism  and  of  dead  orthodoxy;  but  it  be- 
comes us  to  beware  lest  we  fall  into  the  con- 
demnation of  those  who,  "measuring  themselves 
by  themselves  and  comparing  themselves  among 
themselves,  are  not  wise."  Deep  and  strong  con- 
victions of  truth  and  of  duty,  and  a  firm  adherence 
to  these  convictions  at  any  cost,  can  never  be  a  just 
cause  of  reproach  to  Christian  men.  For  such  con- 
victions believers  in  all  ages  have  been  ''tortured, 
not  accepting  deliverance,"  and  have  counted  their 
blood  as  cheap  as  water  when  shed  in  such  a  cause. 
They  "contend  earnestly  for  the  faith"  because 
that  faith  is  infinitely  precious  to  them.  A  Church 
or  a  Christian  without  sharp  and  distinctive  beliefs 
is  a  body  without  a  spinal  column,  bones  or  mar- 
row, if  ever  the  time  come  when  men  shall  not 
care  to  defend  what  they  hold  as  Presbyterians  or 
Methodists  or  Baptists  or  Congregationalists,  the 
time  will   have  come  when  men  will   not  care  to 


192      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM   OF  G0VERN2IENT 

defend  the  truth  of  the  gospel  at  all.  If  to  be  a 
Presbyterian  makes  a  man  any  the  less  a  Christian 
in  any  sense  or  in  any  particular,  then  let  us  burn 
our  Confession  of  Faith  and  our  Book  of  Govern- 
ment, let  us  tear  down  and  tear  up  the  banner 
which  was  carried  by  our  forefathers  through  so 
many  persecutions.  But  if  Presbyterianism  is 
scriptural  in  theory  and  holy  in  its  practical  results, 
then  let  us  never  be  afraid  or  ashamed  to  avow  it. 
A  Church  without  a  creed  is  to  one  which  has  a 
creed  as  the  hyssop  on  the  wall  is  to  the  cedar  of 
Lebanon  or  as  the  jellvfish  is  to  the  Nemean  lion. 
The  danger  is  not  that  we  shall  hold  these  doctrines 
too  firmly  or  cherish  them  too  sacredly,  but  that 
through  remissness  and  indifference  we  shall  let  slip 
the  precious  trusts  which  have  coiiie  down  to  us  on 
rivers  of  martyr  blood. 

It  is  a  significant  and  remarkable  fact,  and  one 
which  deserves  especial  emphasis  at  our  hands, 
that  those  years  of  controversy  and  debate  which 
preceded  the  division  of  1837  were  years  of  spiritual 
growth  and  prosperity  in  the  Church,  "  the  Holy 
Ghost  this  signifying,"  that  the  doctrines  of  the  gos- 
pel are  the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation  even  when  preached  in  strife  and  de- 
bate. Better  preached  thus  than  not  to  be  preached 
at  all.  We  are  not  justified  in  passing  judgment  on 
these  men  of  '37,  some  of  whom  linger  amongst  us. 


TO   THE  REUNION  193 

who,  '  firm  in  the  right  as  God  gave  them  to  see 
the  right,"  followed  their  convictions  straight  to 
the  issue  regardless  of  sacrifices  or  consequences. 

The  division  of  1838  was  followed  by  a  period 
of  tumult,  litigation  and  readjustment.  The  plow- 
share ran  through  most  of  the  synods  and  pres- 
byteries, and  through  many  of  the  churches  even. 
Certain  loose  elements  which  were  set  afloat  by 
these  riving  processes  oscillated  between  the  two 
bodies  for  some  time,  but  at  last  attached  to  one  or 
the  other  of  them,  or  else  drifted  away  to  other 
spheres  of  ecclesiastical  attraction  and  affinity. 
When  the  dust  and  smoke  of  the  conflict  were  dis- 
pelled, the  view  revealed  two  Presbyterian  churches 
with  the  same  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  same 
Form  of  Government  and  the  same  Book  of  Dis- 
cipline, working  side  by  side  in  the  same  field,  yet 
having  differences  which  were  quite  characteristic 
and  distinctive. 

The  Old  School  Church  was  to  a  remarkable  de- 
gree homogeneous  in  its  constituent  elements,  and 
was  distinguished  for  a  rigid  orthodoxy  and  a  strict 
ecclesiasticism.  The  New  School  Church,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  not  homogeneous  in  its  constituent 
elements,  and  was  distinguished  for  a  liberal  con- 
struction of  the  standards,  and  for  an  ecclesiasti- 
cism which  for  the  sake  of  the  voluntary  and  co- 
operative system  of  beneficence  put  in  jeopardy  the 


194      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  G0VERN3IENT 

interests  of  a  just  and  necessary  denominationalism. 
The  Old  School  Church  continued  in  its  orbit,  in 
possession  of  its  titles,  dignities  and  endowments, 
while  the  New  School  Church,  against  its  will,  was 
flung  off  into  a  new  and  untried  sphere.  The  Old 
School  Church  had  a  well-defined  policy,  and  went 
right  on  in  its  course,  with  scarcely  a  jar  or  a  jostle 
in  its  ecclesiastical  operations.  The  New  School 
party,  stunned  by  the  sudden  and  summary  blow 
of  excision,  without  a  legal  status  and  beyond  the 
pale  of  its  wonted  ecclesiastical  relations,  was  at 
first  without  a  fixed  policy;  and  through  abounding 
magnanimity  refusing  to  disentangle  itself  from  in- 
congruous alliances,  was  by  these  alliances  seriously 
distracted  and  weakened.  Its  generosity,  magna- 
nimity and  charity  are  beyond  all  praise,  but  unhap- 
pily these  amiable  and  noble  qualities  outran  the 
less  dazzling  and  sterner  attributes  of  wisdom,  pru- 
dence and  a  just  conservatism.  The  experiment  of 
an  amalgamated  Presbyterianism,  therefore,  was 
made  in  propitious  circumstances,  under  favorable 
conditions  and  by  those  whose  sentiments  and 
sympathies  rendered  the  effort  a  sincere  and  cordial 
one;  yet  the  experiment  failed,  and  the  failure  has 
gone  into  history.  There  is  nothing  in  this  which 
is  derogatory  to  the  party  which  made  the  experi- 
ment, but  it  is,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  highest  de- 
gree honorable  to  it  that  in  the  circumstances  the 


TO    THE  REUNION  195 

experiment  was  made;  yet  the  failure  is  none  the 
less  significant  and  instructive. 

The  changes  which  were  made  in  the  constitu- 
tion by  the  New  School  Church  were  soon  discov- 
ered to  be  disastrous  to  the  interests  at  stake  and  to 
the  efficiency  of  ecclesiastical  operations,  and  the 
mistake  which  had  thus  been  made  was  speedily 
rectified  by  restoring  the  ''Book"  to  its  original 
form  and  by  reinstating  it  as  the  constitutional  law 
of  the  Church  both  in  the  letter  and  in  the  spirit 
of  it.  In  the  violent  agitations  and  amidst  the  swift 
and  turbulent  currents  which  succeeded  the  division 
the  Church  had  been  swept  somewhat  from  its 
moorings,  but  as  soon  as  the  storm  had  subsided  it 
swung  back  to  the  safe  harbor  and  the  strong  an- 
chorage of  constitutional  Presbyterianism. 

The  theory  of  cooperation  and  of  undenomina- 
tionalism,  in  spite  of  the  most  unselfish  and  liberal 
efforts  in  its  behalf,  gradually  broke  down,  and  the 
pitiless  logic  of  facts  forced  the  Church  to  adopt  a 
policy  against  which  her  charity  and  her  sympathies 
reluctated,  but  which  the  solemn  calls  of  duty  and 
the  urgent  exigences  of  the  times  not  only  justified, 
but  rendered  imperative.  She  undertook  to  educate 
her  own  ministry,  to  create  and  disseminate  her 
own  literature  and  to  conduct  her  missions  in  her 
own  fields  in  her  own  way;  and  when  to  a  well- 
defined  task  she  set  her  hand,  the  work  glowed  be- 


196      FE03r  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

neath  her  touch.  A  new  energy  thrilled  along 
every  fiber  of  her  organic  life.  Full  of  hope  and 
zeal  and  enthusiasm,  with  a  united  and  inflexible 
purpose,  she  entered  upon  a  new  era  in  her  history 
which  was  as  radiant  with  promise  as  the  roseate 
sky  mantling  with  the  blushes  of  the  morning.  She 
had  come  at  length  to  a  clear  conception  of  her  mis- 
sion. She  saw  her  work  distinctly  and  emphatic- 
ally outlined  in  a  field  which  suggested  and  invited 
boundless  effort;  and  to  that  work  she  went  with 
heart  and  mind  and  soul  exulting  in  the  free  play  of 
her  untrammeled  individuality. 

The  Old  School,  at  the  time  of  the  division,  had  a 
wonderfully  homogeneous  constituency,  a  clearly- 
defined  theology,  a  pure  Presbyterian  form  of  gov- 
ernment, a  fixed  policy,  an  enthusiastic  unanimity 
of  sentiment,  leaders  of  consummate  ability,  the 
prestige  which  accrued  from  its  legally-recognized 
status,  an  ecclesiastical  machinery  ready  to  its  hand, 
a  definite  work  to  do  and  an  entire  singleness  of 
purpose  in  the  prosecution  of  that  work.  The 
Board  of  Missions  (domestic)  and  the  Board  of 
Education  had  already  been  organized  and  in  opera- 
tion for  a  score  of  years.  In  the  stormy  year  of 
1837,  amidst  the  tumults  of  excision  and  division, 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  was  organized,  and 
into  this  board  was  at  once  merged  the  Western 
Foreign  Missionary  Societv.  which  had  been  formed 


TO   THE  REUNION  197 

and  operated  by  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  for  six  years 
previous  to  this  date;  and  thus  "  the  wall  was  built 
even  in  troublous  times."  Nor  did  this  old  church, 
even  amidst  the  absorbing  interest  and  excitement 
of  such  a  crisis  as  that  of  1837,  forget  for  so  much 
as  an  hour  that  *'the  field  is  the  world."  The 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  which  was  then  consti- 
tuted, has  continued  to  this  day  to  be  a  source  of 
steadily-increasing  power  and  blessing,  and  on  its 
records  are  the  names  of  as  heroic  men  and  women 
as  ever  planted  the  cross  among  savage  men  or 
amidst  "the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness," 
and  its  martyrology  is  as  glorious  as  that  which 
was  enacted  in  the  Coliseum  or  in  the  imperial 
gardens  of  Nero. 

With  a  full  recognition  of  the  power  of  the  press 
and  of  the  supreme  importance  of  a  sound  theolog- 
ical literature,  the  Board  of  Publication  was  organ- 
ized in  the  year  1838.  Out  of  the  work  of  Do- 
mestic Missions  grew  the  Church  Erection  Fund  of 
the  New  School  Church  and  the  Board  of  Church 
Extension  of  the  Old  School  Church,  both  of  which 
were  merged  at  the  reunion  into  the  Board  of 
Church  Erection.  Nor  has  the  Church  forgotten 
her  worn-out  veterans  and  their  widows  and  or- 
phans, and  her  efforts  in  their  behalf  resulted  in 
the  Board  of  Ministerial  Relief.  The  benevolent 
agencies  of  the  Church  are  not  cunningly-devised 


198      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

frameworks  of  abstract  and  finely-spun  theories, 
but  each  one  of  them  has  arisen  out  of  the  actual 
necessities  of  the  work  and  the  urgent,  emphatic 
demands  of  the  times.  They  are  a  growth,  a  de- 
velopment, not  an  invention. 

In  both  branches  of  the  Church  during  the  separa- 
tion the  subject  of  slavery  produced  earnest  discus- 
sion and  deep,  widespread  agitations.  In  the  New 
School  Church  the  deliverances  on  the  subject  by 
the  General  Assembly  became  more  pronounced 
from  year  to  year.  The  Northern  portion  of  that 
Church  became  gradually  but  surely  more  emphatic 
in  its  anti-slavery  convictions  and  utterances,  while 
at  the  same  time  the  Southern  portion,  through  a 
variety  of  potent  and  subtle  influences,  was  quietly 
slipping  away  from  the  testimonies  of  the  Church 
against  slavery  and  assuming  the  position  that  slave- 
holding  was  sanctioned  by  the  Bible  and  was  an 
institution  not  only  to  be  tolerated  but  defended. 
Of  necessity  the  breach  between  the  parties  became 
wider  and  wider  each  succeeding  year.  Their 
views  were  so  divergent  and  so  utterly  irreconcil- 
able that  there  was  no  hope  or  possibility  of  a  com- 
promise. The  crisis  came  in  the  year  1837.  The 
Southern  Synod  withdrew.  The  debates  pre- 
ceding the  schism  were  candid  and  fraternal,  and 
the  parties  separated  without  bitterness  and  with 
sincere  mutual  respect  and  love. 


TO   THE  REUNION  199 

In  the  meantime,  the  political  horizon  grew  black 
with  angry  and  portentous  clouds,  and  muttering 
thunders  gathered  to  a  storm  in  which  not  only 
churches  went  asunder,  but  in  which  States  which 
were  knit  together  by  ties  of  brotherhood  "  were 
rent  with  civil  feuds  and  drenched  with  fraternal 
blood."  Amidst  the  trooping  furies  of  an  awful  civil 
war  the  Old  School  Church  was  riven  asunder,  the 
split  following  the  line  which  separated  the  loyal 
States  from  those  which  were  in  rebellion  against 
the  Federal  government. 

At  this  point  a  word  is  necessary  in  regard  to  the 
attitude  and  the  teaching  of  the  Church  on  the  sub- 
ject of  slavery.  The  testimony  of  the  Church  on 
this  matter  has  always  been  clear  and  explicit.  In 
the  year  1787  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia "  highly  approved  of  the  general  principles 
in  favor  of  universal  liberty  that  prevail  in  America, 
and  the  interest  which  many  of  the  States  had  taken 
in  promoting  the  abolition  of  slavery,"  and  "  recom- 
mended to  all  their  people  to  use  the  most  prudent 
measures,  consistent  with  the  interest  and  the  state 
of  civil  society  in  the  counties  where  they  lived,  to 
procure  eventually  the  final  abolition  of  slavery  in 
America."  This  action  was  reaffirmed  in  1793.  In 
the  year  1815  the  General  Assembly  "  declared  their 
cordial  approbation  of  those  principles  of  civil  liberty 
which  appear  to  be  recognized  by  the  federal  and 


•JUO      FROM  ABOFl'IOiX  FORM   OF  G0VERN3IENT 

Slate  governments  in  these  United  States/'  2nd 
urged  the  presbyteries  under  their  care  "to  adopt 
such  measures  as  will  secure  at  least  to  the  rising 
generation  of  slaves  within  the  bounds  of  the  Church 
a  religious  education,  that  they  may  be  prepared  for 
the  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  liberty  when  God  in 
his  providence  may  open  a  door  for  their  emancipa- 
tion," and  the  same  Assembly  denounced  "the  buy- 
ing and  selling  of  slaves  by  way  of  traffic,  and  all 
undue  severity  in  the  management  of  them,  as  in- 
consistent with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel." 

The  immortal  paper  upon  the  subject  which  was 
adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  in  the  year  1818 
begins  with  these  ringing  words:  "We  consider 
the  voluntary  enslaving  of  one  portion  of  the  human 
race  by  another  as  a  gross  violation  of  the  most 
precious  and  sacred  rights  of  human  nature,  as  ut- 
terly inconsistent  with  the  law  of  God  which  re- 
quires us  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves,  and  as 
totally  irreconcilable  with  the  spirit  and  principles 
of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  which  enjoins  that  '  all  things 
whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you, 
do  ye  even  so  to  them; '  "  and  the  entire  paper  is  in 
the  tone  and  spirit  of  its  initial  sentence.  The 
action  of  1845  deals  with  the  single  and  specific 
question  as  to  whether  slave-holding  per  se  and 
"  without  regard  to  circumstances  is  a  sin  and  a  bar 
to  Christian  communion;"  and  that  action  did  not 


TO  THE  REUNION  201 

in  any  way  or  to  any  extent  nullify  or  invalidate  the 
former  deliverances  of  the  Church  courts  on  the  sub- 
ject. The  General  Assembly  of  1846  declared  that 
in  its  judgment  the  action  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  1843  was  not  intended  to  deny  or  to  rescind  the 
testimony  often  uttered  by  the  General  Assembly 
previous  to  that  date.  Upon  the  deliverance  of  1818 
the  Church  as  a  body  has  always  stood.  To  have 
abandoned  that  ground  would  at  any  time  have  rent 
the  Church  in  twain. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  division  the  united  Church 
occupied  that  ground.  After  the  division  in  1837, 
the  utterances  of  the  New  School  Church  on  the 
subject  grew  clearer  and  sharper  every  year.  During 
the  same  time  the  Old  School  Church,  while  she  was 
not  aggressive  on  the  subject,  but  for  the  sake  of 
peace  and  charity  was  conservative,  yet  stood  firmly 
by  her  past  testimonies,  so  that  even  during  the 
civil  war  and  after  the  abolition  of  slavery  she  had 
not  to  change  a  sentence  or  a  letter  in  her  record, 
nor  to  adjust  in  the  slightest  her  attitude  so  as  to 
put  herself  in  line  and  sympathy  with  the  moral 
forces  of  the  times.  While  the  General  Assembly 
thus  held  the  ground  of  1818,  it  must  nevertheless 
be  confessed  that  a  rapid  change  of  sentiment  was 
going  on  in  the  Southern  portion  of  the  Church, 
until  finally  the  bold  position  was  assumed  that 
slavery  as  an  institution  was  right  politically  and 


202      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

morally,  and  as  such  was  to  be  defended  and  con- 
served, but  the  Church  as  a  Church  never  held  nor 
sanctioned  such  views.  The  spirit  of  both  the  Old 
and  the  New  School  Churches  was  to  bear  unequiv- 
ocal testimony  against  the  system  of  slavery  as  an 
institution,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  to  exercise  the 
largest  charity  toward  those  who,  through  no  fault 
of  their  own,  were  involved  in  the  evils  of  that  sys- 
tem. If,  therefore,  the  Church  committed  an  error, 
the  error  was  on  the  side  of  charity;  and  if  there 
were  those  who  proved  recreant  to  her  testimonies 
and  who  abused  the  "charity  that  hopeth  all 
things,"  the  fault  was  theirs,  not  hers.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  errors  of  individual  members  or 
of  portions  of  her  communion,  I  am  bold  and  proud 
to  say  that  there  is  nothing  in  her  records  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  of  which  she  need  be  ashamed  or 
for  which  she  need  offer  an  apology. 

Amidst  the  fearful  throes  of  rebellion  both 
Churches  were  in  full  sympathy  with  the  govern- 
ment in  its  efforts  to  restore  order  and  to  preserve  the 
integrity  of  the  nation,  making  their  voices  heard 
and  their  influence  felt  in  favor  of  supporting  the 
"powers  that  be  as  ordained  of  God,"  and  both 
Churches  rejoiced  and  sang  hallelujahs  when,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  slavery,  the  cause  of  the  re- 
bellion, was  utterly  overthrown  and  ground  to  pow- 
der.    Neither,  in  their  ardent  loyalty  to  their  coun- 


TO   THE  REUNION  203 

try,  did  they  forget  their  allegiance  to  their  Lord, 
nor  were  they  even  in  these  perilous  times  derelict 
in  carrying  forward  the  standard  of  the  cross. 

In  the  suspense  and  danger  and  agony  which 
attended  the  ravages  of  war,  Christians  of  all 
denominations  were  drawn  closer  to  each  other. 
Great  union  associations,  such  as  the  Christian 
Commission,  threw  different  Churches  into  con- 
tact and  sympathy.  This  was  specially  the  case 
with  the  Old  and  New  School  Presbyterian 
Churches.  In  the  furnace  of  affliction  their  hearts 
were  fused  and  mingled.  They  began  to  look  each 
other  in  the  face,  to  take  each  other  by  the  hand, 
and  in  doing  so  they  found  that  their  hands  were 
warmed  by  the  same  Presbyterian  blood,  and  that 
their  pulses  beat  to  the  same  Christian  hopes  and 
purposes.  They  found  that  they  had  imperceptibly 
come  together,  that  they  were  standing  on  common 
ground,  that  God  had  been  leading  them  by  a  way 
which  they  knew  not. 

Each  Church  in  its  own  sphere  and  in  its  own 
way  had  been  working  out  important  problems 
under  the  guidance  of  divine  Providence.  In  its 
own  sphere  and  according  to  the  laws  of  its  inner 
life  the  New  School  Church  had  freed  itself  from 
alien  elements  and  entangling  alliances,  and  had 
become  a  homogeneous  Presbyterian  body  both  in 


204      FROM  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

doctrine  and  government.  The  Old  School  Church, 
straining  her  conservatism  to  the  utmost  tension, 
hoped  and  prayed  that  the  dark  and  perplexing 
problem  of  slavery  might  be  solved  in  peace  and 
charity  and  without  the  stern  arbitrament  of  the 
sword.  But  God  willed  otherwise.  The  fetters  of 
the  slave  must  be  dissolved  in  blood.  Standing 
bravely  by  her  testimonies  against  slavery  and  bear- 
ing her  witness  against  treason  and  rebellion,  the 
Old  School  Church  calmly  awaited  the  decisive 
events  of  Providence;  and  when  the  schism  of  the 
Southern  Church  came,  taking  from  out  her  pale 
the  slavery  issue,  she  felt  herself  relieved  of  a 
weight  which  had  grievously  beset  her  for  years. 

Thus  God  in  his  wise  and  mysterious  providence 
had  settled  the  issues  between  the  two  Churches. 
All  that  was  left  was  for  them  to  acknowledge  and 
accept  what  God  had  done.  The  union  of  the  two 
bodies  was  consummated  on  November  12,  1869, 
in  the  city  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  and  the  two  churches 
became  organically  one  on  the  basis  of  the  standards, 
pure  and  simple,  and  under  the  title  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
forming,  as  we  trust,  a  true  Church  of  Christ, 
whose  uplifted  banners  shall  become  a  rallying- 
point  for  all  Presbyterians  on  the  continent,  where 
they  may  meet  and  settle  all  differences  in  a  way 
which  will  be  honorable  to  all  parties,  where  the 


TO   THE  REUNION  205 

scattered  Presbyterian  tribes  may  flow  together  as 
tlie  tribes  of  old  Israel  poured  to  Zion,  and  shall  be- 
come one,  and  shall  be  to  all  the  world  the  best 
representative  of  a  true  unity  which  is  not  formed 
by  external  appliances,  as  though  bound  by  hoops 
of  steel,  but  a  unity  which  is  developed  and 
strengthened  by  a  conscious  and  intelligent  oneness 
of  intellectual  belief  and  spiritual  life — one  not  as  a 
wired  skeleton  is  one,  but  as  a  living  man  is  one;  a 
broad  Church  not  in  the  sense  of  being  latitudinarian, 
but  broad  in  Christian  sympathy  and  in  the  world- 
wide scope  of  Christian  effort. 

Since  the  reunion  the  progress  of  the  Church  has 
been  steady,  harmonious  and  rapid.  With  past 
alienations,  feuds  and  bitternesses  buried  utterly  out 
of  sight  and  out  of  hearing,  united,  hopeful  and 
"  strong  in  the  Lord,"  bound  by  indissoluble  ties  of 
brotherhood  and  fellowship  to  those  of  our  own 
household  of  faith,  and  with  ardent  and  ample 
charity  for  all  others,  we  stand  on  the  threshold  of 
the  new  century,  and  with  devout  thanksgiving  to 
God  for  the  past  and  for  the  present  we  hail  and 
welcome  the  great  future. 

Such  is  the  past.  Its  perils,  its  toils,  its  journey- 
ings,  its  disasters,  its  achievements,  its  conflicts,  its 
discouragements,  its  declensions,  its  revivals,  its 
miohty  sermons,  its  high  debates,  its  struggles,  its 


206      FE03I  ADOPTION  FORM  OF  GOVERNMENT 

privations,  its  sacrifices,  its  rewards,  its  failures,  its 
successes,  its  hopes,  its  disappointments,  its  divi- 
sions, its  reunions,  its  unlieraided  and  unrequited 
labors, — have  all  gone  into  their  place,  and  have 
performed  their  part  in  fulfilling  the  purpose  of  God 
toward  this  land  and  the  world.  They  form  a 
picture  of  surpassing  interest — a  picture  strong  in 
blended  light  and  shadow,  but  having  withal  much 
more  of  light  than  of  shadow.  We  have  good  rea- 
son to  be  proud  of  our  Presbyterian  ancestry,  for  what 
they  were,  for  what  they  achieved  and  for  what  they 
represented.  We  have  a  glorious  heraldry,  but  we 
must  not  rest  in  these. 

The  great  Roman  satirist  lashes  with  whips  of 
scorpions  the  degenerate  sons  of  the  Curii  and  the 
Lepidi,  who  with  dice  and  wine  and  soft  voluptuous- 
ness melted  away  their  dissolute  lives  in  the  statued 
halls  of  illustrious  ancestors,  where  every  tablet 
groaned  with  a  wealth  of  genealogical  lore  and 
every  wreath  and  chaplet  was  redolent  with  glorious 
memories.  Let  us  be  careful  that  we  incur  not 
such  satire.  We  have  been  sitting  beneath  our 
genealogical  tree  and  rejoicing  in  its  staunch 
branches  and  in  its  capacious  shade.  We  have 
been  gathering  up  the  articulate  lessons  and  the 
solemn,  inspiring  voices  of  the  century  that  is  gone. 
Let  these  lessons  and  voices  only  quicken  us  to  read 
aright  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  to  hear  and  to 


TO   THE  HE  UNION  207 

interpret  rightly  the  voice  of  God  as  it  comes  to  us 
in  his  word  and  his  providence,  that  through 
watching  and  prayer,  through  faithfulness  and  self- 
sacrifice,  the  present  may  not  be  a  lie  and  a  slander 
on  the  past,  but  that  it  may  be  a  consistent 
opening  and  preparation  for  a  brighter  and  grander 
future. 


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Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01129  2051 
DATE  DUE 


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